Love Unlooked For
by Aria6
Summary: Inspired by another fic on ffnet... I got this idea and just had to share! Ichigo is a talented young man with no idea how much danger he is in, and Grimmjow is an elven overlord who knows all too well. They met when Ichigo was a child, but when they meet again, what will happen? Lemons will happen. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

For many, many years, Ichigo had hated elves.

Not that he had met many elves. His little town was in the middle of nowhere, just a place where people raised goats and planted some crops every year. The elves didn't bother to come gather the tithes personally, the just sent some clerk with a few guards to deter robbers.

He hated them because of the stories. All the stories of the elves said how good and kind they were, how they had helped humans by teaching them all kinds of things. How they had served in the King's Guard and helped make the Kingdom a safe and beautiful places. How most elves lived in the Enchanted forest, but sometimes left for the sake of helping their shorter lived neighbors.

But then the Dark King had come, and the elves had left their precious forest to become overlords instead. The good king was dead and all his nobles were disposed, turned into nothing but servants for the elves, and the elves ruled more cruelly than the nobles ever had. The stories had turned out to be nothing but trash.

That hurt, because when he was little, Ichigo had believed the stories. He'd seen an elf, once, despite his father trying to keep him in their little hut. All the children had gone out to see when they'd gotten wind of the rare visit, despite everything their parents could do. And he'd gawked at the man shamelessly. His hair had been bright blue, cut short, and his eyes had been the most beautiful greenish blue. The adults had feared him, and the elf had been curt with them, but every time he felt he wasn't being watched the elf would turn to the children and give them a grin. Ichigo had been enchanted by that smile and had giggled along with the other children. But he'd wanted to do more, and his eyes had been caught by the man's sword. The hilt of it was bound with white fabric and decorated with tiny beads the color of the sky. Ichigo finally hadn't been able to resist and he'd darted out, putting a small hand onto that pretty, alluring sword.

The elf had reacted instantly, his hand snapping down and catching Ichigo's little hand in his much larger paw. Ichigo had looked up to meet those startled green blue eyes fearlessly, and smiled as the elf laughed. The villagers were watching with dread, but Ichigo was not afraid as the elf knelt down beside him.

"You're a fast one, getting past my guard that way." The elf ruffled his hair with one hand and Ichigo giggled. "How old are ya, kid?"

"I'm five!" Ichigo piped up and the elf laughed again.

"Ah, just a little baby." The elf pronounced the word oddly, making it sound like 'bahbey.' "What's your name, kid?"

"Ichigo. What's yours?" He asked fearlessly and the elf smiled before standing up.

"I'm Grimmjow. If you remember this, kid, look me up someday. You'd do great in my guard." The elf fluffed his hair one last time before looking around, eyes twinkling. "Now you better get on home before your parents tan your hide for talkin' to the likes o' me." Ichigo wanted to ask Grimmjow why he talked so funny, but he followed the elf's gaze and realized that lots of the villagers were looking at him in a way that promised trouble later.

"Okay!" He quickly darted back into the children, all of whom congratulated him on his daring. It made the spanking he'd gotten when he'd gone home seem worth it.

For a long time after that, he'd believed the stories. Grimmjow had seemed so kind, and Ichigo thought he was a good ruler. But times kept getting harder, and then the village had passed from Grimmjow to his neighbor, an elf Ichigo didn't know, and times had gotten worse. He blamed the blue haired elf for that. Why had the man given them away to someone who didn't care for them? But then, why should Grimmjow care for them? They were only humans.

Because times were hard, Ichigo was out hunting. His father wouldn't approve if he knew, so Ichigo didn't tell him, but he was a very good hand with a sling. He could easily catch squirrels and pigeons for the pot, and sometimes even something larger. He had to be careful though. Poaching was against the law and the penalties could be severe. He was near a crooked little back country road when he heard the sound of metal ringing on metal along with a hissing snarl.

Ichigo froze for a moment. Logically, he should probably run right home. But there was no way that was going to happen and he quickly followed the noise to a small clearing. He was absolutely shocked to see the person he'd just been thinking about, the man he hadn't seen since the age of five.

Grimmjow hadn't changed a bit, but instead of fine white clothing he was wearing shining white armor. He was fighting a man who looked like a half elf to Ichigo, and a strange black and red snake that seemed to be some kind of spirit. It was smoky and undulated through the air, constantly trying to strike at the elf. As Ichigo watched, the half-elf stumbled and Grimmjow's sword neatly sliced off his head. Blood spouted like a fountain and Ichigo gasped at the suddenly violent ending. But in that brief moment of distraction, the serpent struck. Grimmjow almost managed to evade it, but fangs grazed his shoulder and Ichigo heard him hiss and saw the sudden pain on his face. The snake made another hissing snarl and redoubled its efforts to reach the elf. Grimmjow leapt back, tossing his blade from his right hand to his left and Ichigo blinked. He'd never known a fighter who could use both hands like that. Unfortunately, the reason why he'd done that became clear quickly. Grimmjow's right arm seemed to be dead now, hanging limply at his side as blood dripped down his white armor. To Ichigo, the strike on his shoulder hadn't looked that deep. What was happening?

Ichigo looked down, grabbing a stone and fitting it into his sling. It might not be much, but it was the only real weapon he had. As he looked up the snake finally penetrated Grimmjow's guard and fangs bit down hard, right above the elf's heart. There was an agonized grunt, and Grimmjow fell heavily to his knees, shuddering as the serpent began to coil around him. And Ichigo knew that if he was going to act, it had to be now.

A rock from a sling could be a powerful weapon, but in this case it should have been completely useless. It should have passed directly through the shadowy serpent, and perhaps injured Grimmjow. Ichigo didn't know that so he took his shot, and the shot seemed to catch fire, glowing a brilliant blue as it smashed into the snake's head. The snake screamed and let go of the dying elf, thrashing frantically as its form was invaded with blue. Ichigo stared at it, willing it to die, and the blue spread as if in response to his wish. It finally vanished into sparkles of blue.

"Well, y'don't see that every day." Ichigo quickly looked over at that tired, familiar voice. "Nice job, kid." Grimmjow was still kneeling and looking at him, his blue green eyes dull and his face full of pain. "Help me up, would ya? I need to write my sister."

"You need to what?" Ichigo repeated blankly, going over to the elf. But instead of helping him up, he helped him lie down on the ground. Grimmjow didn't have the strength to resist. "You need to rest, you're hurt." He said firmly and was surprised when Grimmjow made a wheezy laugh.

"I'll rest forever soon. Get me paper an' a pen. Gotta make sure she knows… I love her…" Grimmjow was panting now and sweat was beading on too pale skin. But sudden fury consumed Ichigo. Before he even thought about it, he slapped the elf, hard.

"Shut up! You're not going to die! Now heal yourself, and I'll get you to a healer!" He snapped. Ichigo knew that elves were innately magical and most of them could manage some kind of healing, even if it wasn't much. Grimmjow looked at him wide-eyed for a moment then suddenly grinned.

"Well, if you're going to be so damned whiny about it, I guess I'll have to live." Ichigo scowled at the amusement in the other man's voice, but stayed quiet as Grimmjow put his left hand over his heart. A soothing white light came from his hand and he stayed still for almost a minute before the light started to fade. "That's all I've got." Grimmjow said, his skin still far too pale. "It ain't cured, just slowed down. I hope you got a good healer around here or I'm done for."

"We have the best, and you just concentrate on living. Come on." Ichigo helped the elf up and led him over to his horse, which was eyeing them skittishly. A few soft words from Grimmjow that he didn't understand, and the horse calmed. He helped the elf up into the saddle and Grimmjow immediately began buckling some straps. He caught Ichigo giving him a curious look and explained.

"War saddle. If the wounded don't stay with the column, they die, and falling off a horse in a dead faint ain't fun. You get up behind me an' take the reins. Because if I don't pass out soon I'll be damned surprised." Grimmjow said and Ichigo thought he was right. Putting his hands on the horses' rump, Ichigo took a deep breath and smoothly mounted the beast. He didn't have much experience with horses and proved it figuring out how to use the reins. Grimmjow's muttered instructions were very useful, since the horse was war trained. Ichigo did not want to accidentally make him strike out!

The horse handled the goat path easily, and Ichigo knew the quickest way to the healer's. Even so, Grimmjow was almost unconscious by the time they reached it. Ichigo slid off the horse, unbuckled the unfortunate elf and carried him up to the cottage before kicking at the door.

"What is it – oh!" Orihime opened the door and stared. "Ichigo, who is this?" She sounded bewildered, peering closely at blue hair and half-closed green eyes. "An elf?!" She went pale and Ichigo struggled with his own patience as he reassured her.

"Yes, he was attacked by a spirit serpent and needs help." She stepped back and he carried Grimmjow past her, putting him onto the thin pallet she used for patients. The elf groaned as he began stripping off the white armor. It had plenty of belts and buckles but it wasn't really too hard to figure out.

"A serpent? There's going to be poison." Orihime murmured as she spread her hands over Grimmjow. A warm, golden light surrounded them and Ichigo could sense it was far, far stronger than the healing spell Grimmjow had used. But would it be strong enough? "Oh my stars. Ichigo, strip off his shirt." Ichigo hesitated but followed instructions. The pale chest revealed was surprisingly hairy for an elf. He'd heard of elves being described as ethereal and delicate, but that wasn't Grimmjow at all. He was masculine to the core. Those thoughts vanished, though, as Ichigo saw the terrible wound over his heart. The imprint of the fangs was bad enough, but the black, viscous fluid oozing from it was much worse. "This is a very bad poison. It devours the spirit as much as the body. Ichigo, join your power with mine." Ichigo obeyed without thinking, laying his hands on Orihime's shoulders. The power brightened until it was almost painful to watch and finally Orihime's shoulders sagged and the light died. "There. The poison is almost entirely cleansed. There is still a miasma and he could still die, but only his own will can save him from that."

"Oh, I'll take care of that." Ichigo put his face close to the semi-conscious man and growled. "Grimmjow! You are going to live, or I am going to beat the shit out of you! Got it?" Orihime looked absolutely appalled but Grimmjow's body shook with a silent laugh before he raised his head.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. You sure are one gutsy kid, Ichigo." He wheezed out and Ichigo froze for a moment. He hadn't mentioned his name, which meant…

"You remember me?" He asked and Grimmjow laughed then coughed, grimacing for a moment at the pain.

"O'course I remember. D'you know how many people got past my guard like that? I can count 'em on the fingers of one hand, and I ain't young. And a little kid like you. Fucking amazing… tricky recognizing ya after all that time, but I figured it when you slapped me. Gutsy little kid…" Grimmjow's voice trailed off and his eyes closed. Ichigo was considering slapping him again, but Orihime's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"He's sleeping, Ichigo. Leave him be, it will help him recover." Ichigo reluctantly let her pull him away from her fascinating patient. "And you need to get home and see to the chores. If you've let things go when your father gets home, he'll tan your hide."

"Right." Ichigo sighed to himself. He had two sisters, and they were helpful, but there were some things that required his muscles. He would need to see to it, since his father was gone away to help an aunt in some way he refused to discuss. Isshin was like that. He had many, many secrets.

Ichigo was kept busy the next couple days tending to the farm, but he still found time to visit Orihime's and see how Grimmjow was progressing. The elf was deathly ill, but slowly beginning to mend. Word of his presence was spreading all over the village, and there was some definite ill will towards their former lord. Ichigo finally decided he needed to know the truth about that, and he waited until Orihime had dosed Grimmjow with pain medicine before sitting beside him.

"Grimmjow." Ichigo waited until the elf blinked and gave him his attention. "Why did you give us away? Why did you let someone else have our village?" He let the hurt, the betrayal enter his voice and was satisfied to see Grimmjow wince.

"Needed th' money." He rasped out and Ichigo stiffened in rage. They had been _sold?_ Like a sheep or a cow? But before he could say anything, Grimmjow spoke again. "Needed th' money t' buy food. The farms down near the river got flooded bad, couldn't get it cleaned up, ever'thin rotted an' the king don't take no fer an answer when it comes t' th' tithes." Grimmjow's strange accent was more pronounced than ever, making it almost hard to understand him at points. "Knew it'd be hard on you, but you'd be breathin'. Had to feed the kids…" The elf closed his eyes again and Ichigo stared at him, speechless. His heart twisted inside his chest as he absorbed it. They had been sold… to buy food for children?

"I knew you were a good man." He said to the elf, although Grimmjow couldn't hear. To many of the villagers it wouldn't matter why they had been sold, but to Ichigo it did. The pain of betrayal eased and Ichigo shook his head, wondering how he had ever doubted this man. But it was hard to trust, when things just kept getting harder and harder. He gave Grimmjow's uninjured shoulder a pat before leaving the house.

Isshin came home the next day, and to say he was upset over what his son had been up to would have been an understatement.

"You stupid brat!" Anger vibrated through his normally mild-mannered father's voice, and Ichigo almost cringed. "How could you do such a thing? I told you to stay away from elves!" His father had told him that many, many times, along with horrible stories about what elves did to children like him. Ichigo hadn't believed any of it, even after Grimmjow sold the village. Something about the stories just didn't ring true.

"I couldn't just watch him die!" Ichigo snapped back. From the look on his father's face, he thought Ichigo could have, and should have. "I couldn't let him be eaten by a spirit snake!" That made Isshin pale.

"A spirit snake? How did you defeat a spirit snake?" He asked and Ichigo hesitated a moment before telling him about the blue fire. Isshin ran his hands through his hair and Ichigo was surprised to see real fear, not just rage, on his face. "You stay right here." His father said abruptly. Ichigo stayed frozen for a moment, then followed Isshin out the door.

His father was so caught up in his thoughts, or Ichigo was just so good, that he didn't notice his son following him. Ichigo's breath caught as he realized Isshin was heading for Orihime's house. What did his father want with Grimmjow?

Orihime let Isshin in, of course. Ichigo crept up to the door and tried to listen.

"Could you go fetch me some water? It's been a long walk." Isshin sounded perfectly calm, but that raised red flags with Ichigo. His father didn't calm down that quickly, ever. What was going on? Orihime cheerfully said yes and Ichigo risked slipping into the room as she left to fetch some water from the well. So Ichigo saw when his father drew his belt knife and bent over the sleeping elf.

"Father, no!" He screamed and darted forward with the same speed that had surprised Grimmjow. He caught Isshin's wrist just before he would have plunged the blade into the sleeping man's heart. "Are you crazy?! Stop!"

"Let me go Ichigo! He'll get you killed! Don't you understand?" Isshin raged. Ichigo didn't understand anything except that Grimmjow didn't deserve to die, and hung on grimly as his father tried to shove him away. "He'll report you to the King!"

"Oh shut the fuck up, you daft bastard." They both froze at the voice from the bed. Grimmjow was sitting up, the blanket falling down to reveal that blue haired chest. Ichigo noticed that his wounds were looking much better, but he was still very pale and probably feverish. "He saved my life, twice. I'm not gonna report the kid. Now get the hell out, you dicks. I have the worst headache in my life, and I've had some damn good hangovers over the years." Grimmjow flopped back with a groan, throwing an arm over his eyes. "Second thought, you go ahead and stab me with that. I want to die…"

"You are not going to die." Ichigo said automatically, missing the astonished look his father gave him. "You are going to recover and go home to your sister! Now shut up and go to sleep." He ordered, and was satisfied to hear a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it kid." Grimmjow settled in comfortably as Orihime came back with a glass of water, having entirely missed the commotion. Isshin took it politely and even managed to thank her before Ichigo dragged him out of the house.

"What is wrong with you?" Ichigo hissed when they were out of earshot. "Report me for what?" This didn't make any sense. What would the king care about a kid like him? His father stopped abruptly.

"Human children with innate spiritual talents are sent to the king for 'training.'" Isshin said with a deceptive calm. "But they are actually killed." Ichigo paled. With everything he knew about the Dark King, he didn't have trouble believing that at all. "And you revealed yours pretty plainly when you killed a spirit snake in front of an elf!"

"Grimmjow's a good man. He won't let anything happen to me." Ichigo defended the elven lord, but he wondered if he was right. And he wondered if Grimmjow would be able to defend him. This wasn't an important place, so either Grimmjow wasn't very powerful or he was out of favor with the royal court.

"Then he'll die too." Isshin muttered darkly and Ichigo flinched. "Being good doesn't get you anywhere in this world."

"Dad… nevermind." He clearly wasn't going to make his father feel any better about this. "Just don't try to kill Grimmjow again. I couldn't live with myself if he died after all this." It would kill him inside, to see that proud, brave man die after surviving so much. "Promise me dad, promise you won't do that again." There was a long silence as they walked, but Ichigo knew Isshin could feel his eyes on him. He was willing to wait as long as it took to get an answer.

"I… promise not to kill that elf, if he isn't a threat to you." He finally said and Ichigo's eyes narrowed. That was a weasel promise if he ever heard one. Grimmjow would always be a threat in Isshin's mind.

"And I'll decide if he's a threat or not." He snapped and had the satisfaction of seeing his father give him an outraged look. "You'll think he's a threat no matter what!"

"Because he is!" The fight had to stop, though, as they reached their home. Yuzu and Karin didn't need to know about all this, and Ichigo hoped neither of them had the innate spirit talents.

He didn't doubt his father was telling him the truth now, and he didn't want them to be in danger.

* * *

Ichigo had thought Grimmjow was getting better, but he was wrong.

The poison was completely gone, but the elf's whole system had been compromised. Naturally, Orihime had happened to pick up a slight case of the sniffles and had passed it to him. What should have been a minor nuisance for a human and completely unnoticeable for an elf had turned almost deadly, as the blue haired man had suffered a lung infection. For a while it had looked like Isshin's wishes about Grimmjow's health would be fulfilled, but after more healing from Orihime and Ichigo as well as a good bit of bullying, the elf had pulled through. The whole village was beginning to wonder if he would survive, though. And the subject of their speculation was beginning to get sullen about the whole thing.

"My head hurts, my chest hurts, my eyes hurt and I think even my cock hurts. I want to die. Someone kill me and put me out of my misery." Grimmjow muttered as he took a sip of water from a cup held in a shaking hand. "My throat hurts, my tongue hurts, my –"

"Shut up! Or I will strangle you and put you out of all of our misery!" Ichigo shouted as he slapped down a tray of food, almost making the soup spill. "Damnit!" He cursed as he caught the bowl just before it could drench Grimmjow. "You are the shittiest patient to ever stink up this place!"

"Oh no, he's not that bad Ichigo. Remember when that half-elf forester man broke his leg? I think his name was Renji? He was worse." Orihime spoke with the assurance of long experience. "Although Grimmjow is pretty bad." She allowed, getting a wheezy laugh from her patient. Using a towel to protect his hands, Grimmjow managed to pick up the bowl and take a sip of the beef broth. It was savory and filled with little slivers of beef, as well as vegetables so well cook they practically dissolved on the tongue. Ideal food for someone with a very sore throat.

"I'll have to tell my sister that there's someone out there worse than me." Grimmjow slowly worked at the soup and blessed silence fell over the healer's cottage. Ichigo had insisted that he be allowed to help Orihime with her work. It was something he often did, since he could amplify her power, but his father hadn't wanted to allow it. He'd finally worn Isshin down by the simple tactic of nagging. "Ah, that's good." Grimmjow said as he reached the bottom of the bowl. "Do you have anymore?" Ichigo saw the faint frown on Orihime's face, and knew the reason for it. He took a deep breath. The elf was recovered enough so it was probably time to confront a very crass and difficult topic.

"Grimmjow, we're dirt poor peasants. I hate to ask a sick man, but Orihime's been paying for beef bones and extra supplies for over a week. Do you have any money?" Ichigo got it out relatively easily and Grimmjow blinked before rubbing his forehead.

"Shit, I'm a moron. Or maybe the fevers have killed my brains and I'll be stupid forever. Could you get my saddle and bring it in here?" Ichigo nodded, going to fetch it. The horse was grazing in the meadow behind the house, although Orihime was buying fodder for it too. The grazing here wasn't very good. He quickly found the saddle, stored carefully in one the back room. He carefully sit it beside Grimmjow, who started to paw through the leather. "I'm so fucking weak right now… shit, can you pull this for me, really hard?" He was tugging on a strap. Ichigo blinked but did that, and was surprised when a kind of secret pouch was revealed. Grimmjow extracted a small purse. "My secret stash. I was too busy dying and you were too distracted, so we left the real money on my fucking traitor of a secretary."

"Oh!" Now Ichigo cursed himself for a fool. But not too much. He had been rather distracted by Grimmjow's attempt at dying. "Sorry, I didn't think of it."

"Eh, blood under the bridge." Grimmjow dismissed it with a wave, opening the pouch. The coins inside were mostly silver with a smattering of gold, and a few little gold bangles. "Hah, I'd forgotten about these." Grimmjow lifted out a gold ring and handed it to Ichigo. "You keep that. That's belonged to my grandpappy, but I hate it, it looks like shit on me and he never wore it anyway. It would look great on you though." Ichigo looked at the gold and amber band, surprised. The amber was a beautiful red shade and trapped in a cage of gold. He could see how it wouldn't go well with blue hair, though. "You deserve a reward for everything. The rest can go to your girl."

"She's not my girl." Ichigo said with a scowl. He hated how everyone in the village tried to pair him up with Orihime. She was nice and he liked her, but his feelings towards her were definitely more sisterly than anything. Suddenly Grimmjow sat bolt upright and Ichigo grabbed his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Oh fuck. Bolt the door and put something heavy on it, or – too late." There was a strange crackling sound and the front door flew open with startling force. Then a loud, strident voice split the air.

"Where's my brother? I know he's in here, I can smell his stink!" Ichigo stared as a tall, youthful elven woman with long, thick blue hair stalked into the room. If Grimmjow was entirely masculine, she was entirely feminine, but not in a way he would have expected. This wasn't an ethereal elf, either. Her body was flawless but so well-muscled that she looked like a young warrior, and her face had a feral beauty that complimented Grimmjow very well. There was no doubt at all that this was his sister. Two guards edged into the room behind her, giving her a wide berth. "You! You stupid bastard! Going on a trip with a man you knew was a spy, what the fuck was in your head?"

"Hello Feralina. Come give me a hug?" Grimmjow opened his arms wide, but got a slap instead. "Ow! Why the fuck is everyone slapping me?" He complained.

"Because you deserve it!" Feraline and Ichigo snapped almost simultaneously, then looked at each other in astonishment. Grimmjow groaned, laying back on his bed.

"Two of you, I'm fucking doomed, go get your dad Ichigo, I need the mercy stroke." That got him matching scowls. "And I didn't know he was a spy, I just thought he was a spy. I needed confo, ya right? It worked, didn't it?"

"It worked a damn sight too well!" She said and Ichigo noticed she had the same, very strange accent that Grimmjow did. "What did he do to you?" Anger was turning into worry and she spread her hands over her brother, assessing his injuries. "My stars! Grimmjow, how close have you come to dying?"

"Pretty close." Ichigo answered when Grimmjow showed no inclination. "Twice, actually. Once when he got here and the second when he contracted a lung infection. He's still getting over that." Feralina muttered obscenities as she gave Grimmjow healing power. It was stronger than what he had used, but nowhere close to what Orihime could put out. Orihime cleared her throat.

"I am the healer here, and I think he will get better if he doesn't overstress himself." She put in and Feralina glanced at her before nodding.

"You must be a good healer, pulling his sorry ass through this. Dare I ask if you've paid these people yet?" She demanded and Grimmjow groaned, just pointing to the purse in Ichigo's hands. "Oh, you just got to it – HEY! That's grandma's necklace, you bastard!"

"What, you like that thing? The cat looks constipated – STOP HITTING ME YOU BITCH!" Grimmjow managed a credible roar as she slapped him again. "Just because it's got sentimental shit on it doesn't mean we should keep it!"

"Well since you gave it to them we're not going to, are we?" She retorted, then said grudgingly. "And the cat does look constipated, but you're still a dick. Get to sleep Grimmy, I'll take care of everything." She promised but Grimmjow vented a frustrated whine.

"Is there any more food? I'm still hungry." Orihime quickly went to fetch some more, with the future supply of beef bones already addressed. Grimmjow slowly worked on the second bowl of broth and Ichigo noticed that his hands were much steadier. "Thanks Ori, that's perfect." Orihime dimpled as she took back the bowl and tray. Grimmjow settled back into the blankets with a sigh. "So you guys taking me home?"

"I was going to, but you're a disaster." Feralina said grumpily, glancing at her two guards before looking at Ichigo. "Does this place have an inn? Because I think moving my sickly brother would probably kill him."

"I think you're right, but no, it doesn't. There are probably a few villagers who have room though." Ichigo thought about it and grinned nastily. His father would want to kill him, but it wasn't like the elves didn't know about him already. "My cottage has a mother in law suite. I'll have to ask my dad, but there would be room." The house was really much bigger than they needed, designed for a time when there had been aunts and in-laws living there. Feralina grinned back at him.

"Oh yeah? I like you already, that would be great. Why don't you go ask your dad while I finish up here?" She gazed at her brother critically. "Someone needs a sponge bath. I bet he hasn't been letting you do it for him, has he?" Ichigo shook his head. Except in the depths of fever, Grimmjow insisted on trying to care for himself, and the results were mixed. Fortunately the elf smelled rather good even when he was filthy, a pleasant musky odor. "Typical. I'll handle it." Until he'd met her, Ichigo would have had trouble picturing an elven maiden giving a feisty, cursing elven man a sponge bath. Now he had absolutely no trouble imagining it. If these two were typical for elves, than the stories were even more stupid than he'd thought. And if they weren't typical for elves… well, he was glad.

They were really rather amazing.


	2. Going Home

Isshin was surprisingly amenable to the idea of putting up Feralina and her escort in the mother in law suite.

At first, Ichigo had been deeply suspicious of his willingness, but then he'd figured it out. With Feralina and her men here, there was no chance at all of permanently silencing Grimmjow. With the cat well and truly out of the bag, Isshin was thinking about Karin and Yuzu now. They didn't have enough spiritual talent to be any kind of threat, and he could charge the elven woman a good fee to use the house. That small cushion could make the difference between life and death if things ever got really bad.

It was another week before Grimmjow was really recovered from his lung infection, although he was trying to get out of bed and practice with his sword well before that. Ichigo had to practically sit on him after the man managed to work himself into fainting.

"I thought elves were supposed to be delicate, ethereal creatures." Ichigo growled as he pinned Grimmjow in place on the pallet, making the elven man swear at him. "Stop it! You've snuck out of bed three times today! Feralina's going to skin you alive!"

"I'm bored and I'm weak! I need to practice!" Grimmjow complained. "And who the hell are you calling delicate? I'm as delicate as old shoe leather!" He sounded proud of it and Ichigo snorted.

"You're just a bastard." He corrected the elf and glowered back as Grimmjow glared at him. "Are you going to stay put, or do I have to do this all day?" Holding him down was already getting old. Grimmjow squirmed for a moment before giving up.

"Oh, fine. Can ya stay and talk to me? I'm bored outta my mind and Feralina's bein' a bitch." Grimmjow complained and Ichigo nodded. He'd much rather talk to Grimmjow than find chores that needed doing, anyway. "Great, now geddoff." Grimmjow squirmed again and Ichigo laughed before pulling himself off the elf and taking a seat beside him.

"Well, really, I was told that elves were delicate, ethereal creatures. Why are you and Feralina so… not?" He asked. He wondered if the stories could really be that far off. If they'd been describing Grimm and Fera, he thought the stories should have said 'feral, beautiful and dangerous' rather than 'delicate and ethereal.' Grimmjow huffed a laugh before placing his hands behind his head.

"You really want t' know?" Ichigo nodded and Grimmjow shrugged. "What makes an elf immortal is the blessin' of the forest. Not pure blood, not personal virtue or any of that bullshit. Just what the forest decides. Almost all elves get the blessing, but half-elves and even a really rare human can get it. Most elves stick to other elves, but my family has always been a little more… prom-is-cu-ous." Grimmjow drew the word out in an insinuating way and Ichigo blushed, shaking his head.

"So you're saying you have human blood?" He asked just to spell it out. Somehow, it didn't surprise him. Grimmjow nodded.

"My grandpappy was a half-elf, and we have human blood on both sides. If you go back far enough, we even have some lupine and dragon in there." He said and Ichigo looked at him in disbelief. Dragon? "Dragons are shape changers so it ain't so far-fetched. We're the mongrels of the elf world."

"Okay. That, I can see." In fact, it sounded perfectly reasonable and explained a lot. "And why do you talk like that?" Not the most diplomatic way to put it, maybe, but Ichigo really wanted to know what was behind that strange accent. Grimmjow grinned.

"Yer hitting every sore point t'day! If my grandmammy were here she'd be givin' you the catbutt face." Grimmjow laughed before explaining. "Y'see, elves don't keep many slaves. But once inna while, we'll buy a human kid and adopt 'em, to raise 'em with our own kids."

"Huh?" Ichigo blinked. That sounded like a very strange custom. "Why?"

"T'give our own kids some idea of how humans really work, so y'don't get a daft elf who thinks a fifty year old human is a l'il kid." Grimmjow rolled his eyes and Ichigo snorted at the thought. "So that's why my mamma did. She bought the most expensive kiddo on the market cuz expensive is better, right?" Grimmjow chuckled harshly. "She's a lady," He pronounced it 'lay-day'. "So she didn't know they was aiming to sell the kidlet to some rich pervert." Grimmjow's accent was pronounced now, and Ichigo wondered why. "She did run an aura check t'make sure the kid didn't have any diseases, and was a good boy at heart. Then she took 'im home and put 'im up with me. I was already learnin' human, and I got a lot better with him around." Grimmjow smiled dreamily, looking up at the ceiling. "We was best friends, an' before you knew it he'd taught me how t' pick locks an' climb into windows an' do some real damage. He was a bit of a thief an' a street brat, y'see." Ichigo nodded. He could see that Grimmjow's childhood friend had meant a lot to him. "Got me into a world of trouble and it was the best time o' my life."

"I bet you were trouble before you even met him." Ichigo observed. He couldn't imagine Grimmjow being a good, obedient child. "So this is how he talked?" It wasn't that hard to figure out. Grimmjow nodded.

"Yeah, I've got the accent of an Inuzuri street brat. Nice, eh? By the time my mamma figured it out, it was too late. An' then I passed it on to Feralina. You'd never guess now, but she idolized me when she was a baby." Again, it sounded like 'bay-beh.' Ichigo couldn't help but find the accent charming. "Terrible taste, hah. 'Course, it's been so long since I was a kid, no one even knows I talk like gutter trash anymore. They just think it's weird." Grimmjow sighed. "Way it goes. Now, I get t' ask a question. Where's your mam? Somethin' happen to her?" The elf asked and Ichigo swallowed hard at the question.

"She was murdered when I was just a kid." He got it out as painlessly as possible. Grimmjow winced. "They never figured out who did it." That still haunted him. Everyone said it must have been a drifter, but sometimes Ichigo wondered if the monster was in their village. He'd never know, and to say that it bothered him would be an understatement. Grimmjow gently touched his knee and Ichigo looked down at the elf.

"I'm sorry t' hear that. I hope she didn't suffer long." He said softly and Ichigo took a deep breath before nodding. "And ya have sisters? Can you tell me about 'em?" He seemed really interested, probably because he had a sister of his own. Ichigo nodded and began telling him an amusing story about Karin and Yuzu.

The next few days passed quickly and it became obvious that Grimmjow was ready to leave. He was still weak from his enforced bed rest, but he was practicing with his sword without fainting. Feralina was helping him with that, sparring with him without hesitation. Ichigo expected them to just leave, but instead Grimmjow asked to have a private meeting with Isshin, Ichigo and Feralina. All four of them sat at the kitchen table as Grimmjow started to speak.

"We need t' talk." Grimmjow said abruptly as Isshin folded his arms and stared at the elf stonily. "I know y'don't like elves, and I'd be a damned fool not t' understand why. But the boy has t' go with us." Ichigo stared at Grimmjow, then glanced at his father. Truthfully, there was nothing he'd like better than to go with the elven man and learn how to fight. But his father looked quietly furious. "Y'know he can't go on like this."

"I know nothing of the sort. I've kept him safe for sixteen years!" Isshin said venomously and Ichigo winced at the accidental revelation of his age. He was well grown for sixteen and he'd been hoping to pretend he was a bit older.

"Sixteen?" Grimmjow mused, glancing at Ichigo. "I thought he was younger." Ichigo stared at him, wounded to the core. "Musta lost a few years in my head. Anyway, that means he's in the middle o' puberty. You know that makes spirit talent flare." Grimmjow said quietly and Isshin's jaw clenched. "How're you gonna train him t' use it? An' if he doesn't use it, sooner or later somethin's gonna think he looks tasty. You know how it is."

"And you have some plan on how to train him to use it? Because if he flares with you, and some spy senses it, the Dark King will kill him." Isshin said sharply and Grimmjow winced, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment.

"Um, yeah. I have a plan." Everyone looked at him, even Feralina, who'd been cleaning her nails with a dagger. Grimmjow sounded embarrassed. "We can put a retaining collar on him. Make it strong enough, an' he'll just look like a basic talent. He's strong enough I'll be able to teach 'im through the collar an' no one'll suspect a thing."

"What the hell Grimmy? Retaining collars are big! How are you going to explain that?" Feralina asked and Grimmjow actually hunched his shoulders a little. "Is this going to be something totally daft again, like the time you tried to stuff a chicken with feathers?"

"I was drunk, you bitch!" Grimmjow huffed, straightening. "And no, it's not daft, it'll work just fine." Grimmjow sighed, fixing his gaze on the wall before continuing. "We'll have to pretend he's a slave. Only a slave collar'll be able to hide the retaining collar."

"What! But the only slave collar big enough is-" Feralina stopped, staring at her flushing brother for a moment, then vented an unearthly laugh. Ichigo flinched at the uncontrolled sound and Isshin looked downright pissed. The 'delicate and ethereal' elf woman sounded like a hyena in heat.

"For fuck's sake Feralina, the girls are tryin' t' sleep! And the guards! Keep it the fuck down!" Grimmjow hissed and she managed to turn her laugh into choked giggles that threatened to send her onto the floor. "And it's not funny!"

"Y-you – you – you're the guy who broke that bastard's arm for tryin' to rape a l'il servant girl, darin' the wrath o' the Dark King, and you're gonna put a concubine collar on a sixteen year old?" Feralina gasped out and Ichigo's eyes widened. Concubine collar? "It's fucking _hilarious!_" She bent over, wrapping an arm around her stomach to hold in the laughter as Grimmjow looked at her in absolute exasperation.

"Over my dead body." Isshin said, far too calmly, and Grimmjow winced. "You will _not_ be defiling my son." That only made Feralina's giggle fit worse and Grimmjow looked very harassed.

"I don't fuck babies." He growled, and Ichigo couldn't stand it.

"I am not a baby!" He snarled back, then turned to his father. "And I'm almost a man! You can't keep me here if I don't want to stay!" Isshin stared at him as though he'd been slapped and Ichigo almost felt bad for a moment. Almost. "Forget about the concubine part, dad. Is this a good idea or not?" He just didn't know enough about these retaining collars to tell. Isshin frowned, clearly trying to put his revulsion aside for a moment and address the idea on its own merits.

"It might work." He finally said grudgingly. "I don't know much about concubine jewelry, but I think it can be large and lavish, correct?" Grimmjow and Feralina both nodded. "That should hide a retaining collar. How will you explain his age?"

"Lie and say he's eighteen." Grimmjow said with a shrug, giving Feralina a glance. "Since no one would believe it if they knew he was sixteen." He added sourly and Feralina nodded, her laughing jag over. She pushed light blue hair out of her face, thinking about it.

"We can mess with the guard's minds a bit, make them think he was a slave being mistreated and you decided you wanted him." She speculated. "Everyone will buy that, he's just your type. Muscular, young warrior, could probably crack walnuts with his bare hands." Grimmjow turned brick red as Isshin muttered dire threats against both of the elves. Ichigo blinked at the description of himself. Crack walnuts with his bare hands? He glanced down at his large, but long fingered hands and wondered if he could. "But we'll have to make up a retaining collar right here and now. Good thing I came to see you, hey?"

"Yeah, yeah. Can you do it?" Grimmjow asked Feralina and she rummaged through her purse, drawing out a handful of silver coins. She regarded them with a small frown.

"I think so. The collar itself is no problem, I could do that in my sleep. I'm a bit of a smith." She confided to them and Ichigo nodded, glancing at her arms. That explained the muscles. "If your village smith lets me use his stuff, I should be able to bang out the collar right off. Coating it in silver and dazzling it to actually look like a concubine collar and not just a retaining collar is the tough part." She poked the coins. "You have anymore silver Grimmy? I don't want to use gold." She hesitated a moment, then began to unhook her earrings. "And you owe me some star sapphires."

"Didn't those belong to mom?" Grimmjow said just to needle her, and Feralina gave him a scorching glare. "Sorry, no silver, I gave it all to Ori. Maybe we could trade her a few golds for it back, though."

"I'll try it if there's not enough metal. So do we think this is a good plan?" She glanced around the table and Isshin scowled before turning to Ichigo.

"Ichigo, do you trust them with your life?" He said simply and Ichigo hesitated. Did he trust the elves that far? Once glance at Grimmjow gave him the answer.

"Yes, father. I trust them with my life. And I think they're right, I need to learn to control this." He said as firmly as he could. He'd destroyed that snake without even meaning to. What else might happen, and who might notice? The Dark King certainly could and if that happened, he would die anyway. Isshin took a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright. You are almost a man, and he's right, puberty will make this worse. But you!" Isshin rounded on Grimmjow, who looked like he wished he could climb under the table. "If you defile my boy, I will murder you in your sleep!"

"Until I'm eighteen." Ichigo snapped and had the satisfaction of seeing his father give him an outraged look. "After I'm eighteen all bets are off." He wasn't going to let his father rule his love life forever. Although he wasn't certain what he wanted yet. Grimmjow was undeniably attractive, but so was Feralina. They were both amazing and he liked them both almost equally now, although Grimmjow still had an edge in that contest. He was a bit easier to talk to than his sister.

"I really like him. Well, I'll make that collar tomorrow and we can get out of here. The servants have probably stolen all the silverware while we were gone." Feralina said as she stood and swept out of the room. Ichigo followed behind them, going to his own room.

"That'd be a nice trick, since we haven't got any silverware." Grimmjow said and Feralina shrugged as she entered her room.

"Well, they would if we did. G'night brother." She said, sitting down on her bed. Grimmjow paused in the doorway for a moment and Ichigo glanced back, seeing him smile at his sister.

"G'night sis." And he gently shut the door behind her before going to his room. Ichigo watched him go wistfully.

He really wished he wasn't just sixteen.

* * *

"Ugh." Ichigo muttered as he tugged on the retaining collar. It fit him perfectly and Feralina had done a nice job of sprucing it up, covering the iron with a fine wash of silver and setting the two star sapphires into a pattern of stars. It really did look like a concubine collar, which was only mildly embarrassing.

The problem was the retaining field. It was like wearing a damp sweater, and it made his mind feel a bit fuzzy around the edges. Grimmjow was sympathetic to the problem and assured him he'd stop noticing it in a couple of days, but right now it was very annoying. Ichigo desisted from pulling on the collar as he realized he was just rubbing his skin raw, and concentrated on the land they were riding through.

It wasn't really anything special, but Ichigo had never been out of his home village until now. So he looked around curiously, noting that the land here was not good farmland. It was far too scrubby and hilly, full of rocks and with thin soil. The trees were small, mostly spruce and poplar, so he doubted the land could be successfully logged either. The only way he could see to make a living off it would be hunting, and it was hard to say how good the game would be.

That was probably why they didn't reach another village for over a day. The next place they stopped at was mostly goat farmers, since goats were hardy enough to survive in the scrub brush of the hills. There were a few modest farms, though, and they were able to get a good meal at the local pub. Ichigo tore into his food ravenously. The elves were feeding him plenty, but cold food eaten on horseback wore thin after a while. He felt someone watching him and looked up from his food to see Grimmjow smiling at him.

"Ah, it's been so long since I was a growin', it gets hard t' remember how much a boy eats. You need another bowl, just say." He said and Ichigo smiled in thanks. He thought he actually would need another bowl, he was hungry and the stew was delicious.

"Hey, what about me? I'm still growing." Feralina said, licking off her spoon, and Grimmjow chuckled.

"Yeah, but not the right way – ow! Damn it, you got gravy in my hair!" Grimmjow yelped as he pulled the spoon out of his hair. Feralina just sneered at him and kept eating her stew with her fingers. "And don't do that, you look like a damned barbarian!"

"I look like what I am, you mean? And you asked for it, you bastard. I am not getting fat!" She snarled at him. Ichigo snickered to himself as he inhaled more stew. Watching these two bickering was a lot of fun. Fortunately, or not, the little fight was interrupted by a wide eyed servant girl with more stew and a wet cloth for Grimmjow.

"Well, at least someone's thoughtful around here." Grimmjow muttered as he tried to clean the gravy out of his hair. The result was still a bit oily, but presentable.

"They're just hoping for a tip." Feralina said cynically. "Make sure you leave them one, they deserve it for looking at your ugly face – hey!" Grimmjow had tossed the towel over her head. She scowled as she tossed it back onto the table. "Watch it!"

"Yeah, yeah." Grimmjow ate a piece of cheese, then leaned back with a sigh. "I'm done." He glanced over at the guards, checking to see if they were done as well. "Yep, just waiting on you two."

"Don't be impatient, or I'll eat extra slow just to annoy you." Feralina said before lifting up her bowl with both hands and drinking the last of the gravy. "Mmm mmm good." She then proceeded to try to lick the bowl clean, getting a bit of gravy on herself in the process. She used the towel to wipe it off. Ichigo had to struggle not to stare. His father would have given him a hiding for doing something like that.

"Mamma would have stroked out, seeing you do that." Grimmjow sounded pained and Feralina flashed him a grin.

"Yeah, that's why I'm staying with you. You're my favourite brother. 'Course, you're my only brother so the competition ain't stiff." She set her bowl down and pushed it away. "I'm done. Now we're just waiting on the bottomless pit." She playfully poked Ichigo in the side with her spoon, and he retaliated by poking her with a crust of bread. To his surprise, she darted around like an eel and snatched it out of his hand with her teeth. "Hah! Too slow." She said, her voice muffled by the bread. Ichigo grinned, impressed with her speed and sense of humor.

"Oh my god that's disgusting, he was eating that. I'm going outside while you two swap spit." Grimmjow said, hopping off his chair and catching outraged looks from both Ichigo and Feralina. Ichigo shrugged and just finished his stew as Feralina tore off the part of bread she'd caught, and handed the rest back. She ate it in a few quick bites and Ichigo couldn't help but admire her. She did act like a complete barbarian, but it was incredibly charming.

"Don't start liking me too much, Ichigo. I'm in love." She suddenly said and he blinked, shocked.

"I wasn't!" He protested and Feralina gave him a pitying look before shaking her head.

"You're sixteen, you'd fall in love with anything pretty. But don't set your hopes on me. I'm still trying to catch my man, and it's damned hard, let me tell you." She scowled at nothing, then sighed and shrugged. "But I'll get him someday. You about ready?" Ichigo nodded, pushing away the empty bowl. "Good, let's go grab my worthless brother and get on the road again. I can't wait to get home."

"I can't wait to see it." Ichigo said truthfully. He was looking forward to seeing how these elves lived.

He didn't know what it would be like, but he guessed it would be nothing at all like the stories.

* * *

He was right.

Grimmjow's home turned out to be a fortified manor, not the castle or keep he had been expecting. It was far more vulnerable than a castle would have been, but it had still been built with defence on the mind. The whole area was kept swept free of trees, and there were no windows at all on the first floor of the building. The second floor had only arrow slits, meant to give the archers a place to fire on enemies. Only in the third floor were there proper windows, and that was as high as the building went. A wall surrounded the manor and a fair bit of ground. Within that wall was a garden, complete with chickens and goats.

Ichigo wasn't really surprised to see the servants greet their lord and lady warmly. A young man tried to help Feralina off her horse, and she accepted his hand politely but handled most of it herself. Servants took the horses to be cared for, although Grimmjow insisted on taking the white horse to the stable himself. Ichigo stood to the side, feeling awkward and hoping to go unnoticed. Of course, someone had to notice him eventually and a half-elf in leathers was the first to bring it up.

"Hey, Grimm? Who's this kid?" He questioned and Ichigo swallowed before meeting his eyes squarely. He could really only tell the man was a half-elf from his slightly pointed ears. His hair was bright red and pulled into a ponytail. His eyes were a warm brown that looked very human to Ichigo.

"He's my new concubine." Grimmjow said blandly as the half-elf's eyes went wide. "So be nice t' him, eh?"

"A concubine? You? What the hell happened, did someone hit you over the head with a rock?" The half-elf demanded and Ichigo scowled. "And he's not that cute – OW! Feralina!" She'd slapped him upside the head, which Ichigo was glad about. It saved him from having to do it himself, which would probably be way out of character for a concubine.

"Shut the hell up before you embarrass yourself even more, Renji. His old owner was abusing him and my brother just had to butt in, you know how he is. We'll see about taking the collar off after we train him, if he's got it in him to be a guard or forester." Feralina said and Ichigo nodded slightly. Renji looked slightly relieved.

"Oh, okay, that explains it. You were freaking me out. So are they actually – OW! Okay! I get the message, none of my business!" Renji stalked off, rubbing his head and muttering something about elven women in general and Feralina in particular. She snickered evilly before grabbing Ichigo by the shoulder.

"Let me show you around. My beloved brother has weeks of correspondence and reports to catch up on, the poor bastard." She ignored Grimmjow's outraged look and pulled Ichigo off to show him the sights. Ichigo was quickly enthralled by it all. The vegetables gardens and animals were nothing special, but the manor was quite interesting. "Here's the chapel. Watch your head here, Grimm has clocked himself on it so many times." Feralina ducked the slightly low lentil easily and Ichigo followed her lead, glancing around. His little village had a chapel, but no actual priest. The oldest men in the village shared the duties between them. This little chapel was much nicer, with actual stained glass windows up high and glass oil lanterns that shed plenty of light. A very old man was sleeping in a pew when they came in, and didn't stir a bit as Feralina talked. "This is our priest, Dakko. Be nice to him, he's got the wits of a small chicken in a hurricane, but he tries."

"That's pretty unkind. He's probably got age sickness." Ichigo pointed out, a bit annoyed. Feralina didn't have to be quite that mean to everyone. But the elf woman shook her head.

"We wish. He's always been like that, I would know." She said and Ichigo was suddenly reminded that she was much, much older than she looked. She had likely seen the priest as a baby in diapers. "He makes a pretty good priest, though. Very good listener and his sermons are okay. Let me show you the kitchen, I imagine you'll be spending a lot of time there."

"What, working?" He hazarded a guess and Feralina laughed.

"No, eating, y' bottomless pit!" She teased him playfully, poking his shoulder. Ichigo grinned before poking her back. "I think we can skip the midden, so I'll just give you a quick tour of the sitting rooms then show you to your room, how's that?"

"Uh… how often will I be expected to stay with Grimmjow?" Ichigo asked. He would have to spend some time in Grimmjow's room, of course, or no one would believe they were lovers. Feralina paused before giving him a wicked grin.

"Oh, probably every other night. He plays a wicked game of backgammon." Ichigo blushed at the merriment in her voice. Any listeners would think she was referring to something else entirely, but Ichigo knew that backgammon was the only thing likely to happen. "Don't let him keep you up all night, that man hardly sleeps when he's well."

"Or when he's sick." Ichigo added and was rewarded with another laugh. When she wasn't absolutely hysterical, Feralina had a rather nice laugh, heavy and purring. "Don't worry, I can take care of myself."

"Oh, I'm sure you can." Feralina said with a smile as she showed him into the kitchen. It was warm and bustling with activity, and everyone greeted them both with friendly words and smiles. Ichigo basked in the warmth of the place, returning smiles and introducing himself.

He was already starting to feel at home.


	3. Zangetsu

For the first few weeks, Grimmjow was very busy with all that paperwork Feralina had mentioned. Feralina was busy too, making iron work and also doing some jewelry commissions, so Ichigo took the time to just settle in.

He was stunned to see how simply the elves lived. Despite Grimmjow's comment about the lack of silver, he'd still thought nobles would be… different from commoners. And they were, a bit, but not by much. The clothes they wore were worn and well mended, except for the oldest, which were elven silk and preserved with magic to keep them beautiful and fresh. Feralina owned several pieces of fine jewelry, but every single one was a family heirloom with a story attached. The plates they ate off of were intricately carved wood, and the food was offered freely, but simply made. Ichigo had heard that nobles often indulged in things like candies and out of season fruits, but he saw none of that here. Instead, they ate stews, soups and roasts that would not have been out of place in his father's cottage, with plenty of tubers, bread, goat cheese and butter. There was more game meat than he was used to, perhaps, but it wasn't all venison and elk. Ichigo was pretty sure a few squirrels had found their way into the pot.

Not that Grimmjow and Feralina didn't have any nice things. The old clothing, jewelry and fine china all hinted at better days. But every single piece dated from before the Dark King, and some of it was so old it was mind-numbing. He'd asked Feralina about a pearl and diamond necklace she'd been wearing, and had been told it dated back to her great grandmother and was perhaps ten thousand years old. After that, he'd stopped asking. The reminders of elven age were a bit difficult to take.

For those first two weeks, the servants kept Ichigo busy helping to look after the animals. The goats needed milking, and he was fairly good at it. He also knew how to make cheese, and was put to doing that as well. Then Grimmjow finished whatever he was doing and took notice of him again.

"Finally! Fucking finally!" Ichigo looked up from the nanny goat he was milking with a blink as something loud and blue stormed out of the house. "I am ready t' do some real work! Where's Ichigo?" Grimmjow demanded, looking around the courtyard.

"Uh, over here!" Ichigo stopped milking the goat and rescued the pail of milk before she would have stepped in it. He was already getting familiar with the goats, and that was an old trick. "What's going on?" Grimmjow was wearing padded armor, quite unlike his usual white armor, and his arms were full of more of the padding. Grimmjow waited until Ichigo had poured the milk into the churn, then handed him the armor.

"It's your first lesson in real fightin'." Ichigo accepted the armor with a glad smile. He'd been looking forward to this for ages! But he frowned as he saw the rattan wands Grimmjow was carrying. They were made out of flexible reeds, gathered from the swamps. The elf caught his glance and grinned. "You think I'd let you play with a real sword? Hah! You saw that scar on my left arm? I got that the first time my trainer gave me a real weapon."

"I'm sure Feralina would say that's because you're an idiot." Ichigo commented, but accepted the rattan wand. Grimmjow might be right, he was a complete novice after all.

"Don't start channeling her, I don't think I could take it. C'mon, this way." Grimmjow took him outside of the wall, to an area with a bunch of straw targets. Ichigo watched as a few of Grimmjow's guards fired arrows into the targets. Grimm and Fera didn't have a lot of armed retainers, just enough to hold the manor if bandits dared attack. "Okay, get dressed." Grimmjow watched a moment as Ichigo tried to figure out all the belts, then huffed a laugh. "Here, let me help ya." Things went a lot faster then, although Ichigo had to suppress a few twinges as Grimmjow's hands brushed against him in interesting ways. It was definitely not the time or place for that. "Okay, let me show you the basic moves."

The next several hours were exhausting, but also very satisfying. Ichigo knew he had a great deal of native talent, because Grimmjow told him so. The elf also cursed him for plenty of mistakes and encouraged him to speed things up. At first his speed was blinding, but as the lesson wore on Ichigo found himself tiring and slowing. By the time Grimmjow called it quits he was definitely ready for a break.

"Not a bad start. You're going to go far, kid." He said with pleasure and Ichigo grinned, wiping sweat off his face. "Here, have a drink." Grimmjow passed him a canteen of water and Ichigo drank gratefully, then dumped some of it over his face, washing off the dust. Grimmjow took back the canteen and Ichigo couldn't resist needling him as he took a drink.

"So it's okay if we swap spit, but not me and Feralina?" He jibed, and Grimmjow snorted before recapping the canteen and tossing it onto the ground.

"She's my sister and you're not married. You're not s'posed t' be swappin' spit until you're married, not that anyone's likely to want her ugly face." Grimmjow said and then a window slammed open above them.

"I heard that, you bastard!" A shoe came flying out and Grimmjow dodged it easily.

"Ears like a bat. Hey, bitch! You done the jewelry yet?" Grimmjow yelled up at Feralina, who howled back. Ichigo winced, wanting to cover his ears at the air splitting tone. Admittedly, it was a long distance to yell over, but Feralina really did sound like a hyena in heat when she wanted to.

"No, you stupid bastard, it takes as long as it takes! And I'm going to kick your ass!" The window was shut so hard it rattled and Grimmjow shook his head in mock despair.

"No damn manners. Where did I go wrong?" He asked rhetorically. "Mamma would die of shame if she was here t' see all this. C'mon, let's go put this all away before her highness shows up. Next, we're gonna work on your spirit talents." Ichigo perked up at that. He had definitely gotten used to the retaining collar and was ready to learn how to tame his spirit powers.

Unfortunately, Feralina beat them to it. She was outside the door, dressed in white armor very similar to Grimmjow's and holding a sword. She smirked at them both before fixing her attention on her brother.

"I think he should see what he's working towards, don' t you brother?" She said and Ichigo glanced at Grimmjow. The elf was scowling and looking at her armor.

"I'm not suited up. That's pretty damn unfair." He said, irritated, and Feralina shrugged.

"Life ain't fair, now is it? C'mon, let's give him a show." She urged him and Grimmjow thought about it for a moment before glancing at him. Ichigo was intensely curious and knew his expression was showing it. He'd seen Grimmjow fight once, and he'd been blindingly fast until the snake had gotten the better of him. What could he do against Feralina?

"Oh, alright. Ichigo, go stand over there somewhere." Grimmjow motioned to the wall and Ichigo nodded, finding an out of the way place to watch. "I assume we're going all out?"

"Of course! Roar, Leona!" Ichigo blinked as he watched Feralina… change. Her hair shortened and turned ragged, flowing out behind her head like the mane of a lion. Little green marks appeared beside her eyes and when she grinned, she had fangs like a lupine's. Her ears were still pointed, but now they were furred and seemed to be flexible like a cat's.

"Grind, Pantera!" Ichigo's attention was snatched to Grimmjow, and he watched as the elf lord underwent a similar change. The only difference was that where her hair shortened, his lengthened. Had Grimmjow been like this when he was fighting the snake? Ichigo tried to remember and recalled that yes, he'd had long hair at first. But that had vanished when the snake had bit him over his heart.

The fight that followed was absolutely vicious and blurred the line between practice and homicide. Ichigo was genuinely worried that they would hurt each other, particularly Feralina hurting Grimmjow. His padded armor did very little to stop her strikes and the man had to dodge a lot more often than she did. But finally the end came when he trapped her weapon with a canny move, and knocked it out of her hand. She swore and tried to lunge for it but Grimmjow was onto her back, slamming Feralina into the ground.

"Who's your brother?" Grimmjow asked with a grin as she growled and squirmed, trying to throw him off. "Ahahaha, be a good girl Fera." He said tauntingly as he gripped her hair with one hand, holding her easily in place. "Who's your brother?"

"You are! Now geddoff!" Feralina squirmed again and Ichigo blinked as he felt her spirit power suddenly fade. The changes to her body faded with it and Grimmjow let her go, jumping to his feet. "Bastard, that hurt!"

"That hurt? Look what you did to me!" Grimmjow complained, fingering a cut on his side. "This fucking armor ain't worth shit 'gainst a real sword!" His spirit power also faded and Grimmjow was back to normal. Ichigo was disappointed with the change. Grimmjow looked so feral and dangerous in his second form. "So what d' you think, Ichigo?"

"I think you're the most handsome thing I've ever seen." The words popped out without any thought, and Ichigo blushed madly as the two elves both looked at him, stunned. Grimmjow coughed and rubbed the back of his neck and Feralina burst into giggles.

"Awkward." Grimmjow muttered as Feralina jumped to her feet and slapped him on the side, making him gasp in pain. "Watch it, bitch!"

"Ichigo has a crush! How cute! Too bad you have to wait two years, eh?" Feralina said with a grin as Grimmjow gave her a scorching look.

"Two years is nothing." He said grumpily and Feralina just grinned. "Well, it's not!"

"Two years can pass like an eternity. You know that, brother. Well, I better get back to my jewelry. Smell you later, Grimm!" Feralina went back inside the gate cheerfully, her bloodlust at least temporarily sated. Grimmjow watched her go and shook his head, turning back to Ichigo.

"Anyway, talent lesson. Let's put this crap away and find a nice, quiet place to hang out." He ordered and Ichigo nodded, following him. Grimmjow showed him the armory and how to clean the armor before putting it away. There was a stand for the rattan wands, so that was simple enough.

The quiet place to practice turned out to be on the roof. Grimmjow sat down cross legged, placing his sword on his lap. Ichigo took his place across from him and watched as the elf ran a hand down the blade of his weapon.

"When you have a real sword, an elf sword, you can talk to 'em like this." Grimmjow said seriously and Ichigo blinked, looking at the sword. It was incredibly finely made and still had the little turquoise beads that had so intrigued him when he was five.

"I'll be getting an elf sword?" He asked. That seemed a little odd. Grimmjow shrugged.

"Maybe I shoulda called it a spirit sword. Humans used t' have 'em too, made 'em the exact same way. Only reason they don't now is the Dark King." Ichigo shivered a little at the reminder. "But spirit swords can hide what they are really well, if they need to. Nothin' t' worry about. Now, I'm gonna start teachin' you how t' hide your talent. It's gonna be hard for you t' learn in that collar, so we're gonna practice this every day." Grimmjow's accent was thick again, and Ichigo was starting to think stress was what triggered the change. He wondered what was stressful about this, though. "Now, close your eyes."

What followed was very like a meditation lesson. Ichigo had never been good at meditation, but he'd never tried very hard to master it. Now he was properly motivated and found that if he was calm and peaceful, he could sense the rising and falling of his own spiritual power. It seemed to move with every inhale and exhale, and the color of it was a warm gold. His nose twitched as he smelled cinnamon and tasted something sweet that he tentatively identified as maple syrup. He dreamily followed Grimmjow's instructions, lowering the power until it was almost nothing. Then he yelped in pain as something jabbed him.

"Grimmjow!" Ichigo clutched his side, staring at the elf who had just poked him gently with the tip of his sword. "What was that about?" He asked, greatly offended, and Grimmjow laughed.

"Sorry Ichigo, but y' need to be able to do this so well that getting' poked like that don't pull you out. 'Cause the next step is t' do this without meditatin'." Ichigo nodded, still a bit upset at the poking. The sword was sharp and while it was only a nick, it hurt. "If you can't do that, you'll never be able t' take that collar off."

"Okay, but can you slap me or something? I don't need to get sliced up here." Ichigo protested and Grimmjow shrugged.

"If you like bruises better, sure." Ichigo glowered at the elf before closing his eyes and trying to meditate again. He was determined to go so deep that Grimmjow would never be able to disturb him.

His life depended on it.

* * *

Several months later.

"I see it but I don't believe it." Grimmjow said admiringly as Ichigo held a ball of fire in his hand. It danced above his skin, warming him yet not burning. "That's just damned impressive, Ichigo."

"Because I'm wearing the collar?" Ichigo asked. It was always a bit of a strain, working around the retaining collar. Grimmjow nodded.

"Yer stiff with talent. Yer pappy was right to worry about that." Grimmjow made a face. "And I'm damned happy we're not at court. Even with that collar, someone might get a whiff and start askin' questions." Ichigo shivered at the thought and dispelled his ball of fire. "Speakin' of which, try t' lower your spirit power again." Ichigo nodded but kept his eyes open, trying to evoke the meditative state without dropping into a trance. Grimmjow eyed him critically and shook his head. "Still a long way to go on that one. It's getting' better though. You ready for a bit of lunch?"

"Yes, definitely." Ichigo hadn't really been aware of it while he was practicing, but he was starving. Grimmjow laughed and opened the wooden box he'd brought with him. Ichigo blinked in surprise as he extracted a loaf of bread, several hard boiled eggs and some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden. "That's a random lunch." He observed. It looked like Grimmjow had just grabbed whatever was on the counter and stuffed it in. The elf shrugged.

"I was in a hurry. One thing t' remember about usin' talent is, it drains your body. You gotta eat, and eat a lot when you're using spirit talent all the time." Ichigo nodded, biting into a tomato. It was like eating a fruit, it was so delicious and flavorful. Grimmjow claimed the second tomato, rolling it in his hands for a moment before sinking his teeth into the succulent vegetable. "Mmm. I think we're gonna have a good harvest this year, if'n we don't get a bad hailstorm or somethin'."

"Don't say that, you'll jinx it." Ichigo said immediately, making the elf lord laugh. "Grimmjow, I was wondering. Um, if you don't mind me asking." He said hesitantly. This might be a painful question, but he'd been wondering for a while. "Are you out of favor with the Dark King?" Grimmjow seemed to be too powerful to be exiled to this tiny, barren part of the Kingdom. The elf lord frowned then sighed.

"Oh yes. My family ain't well liked, never have been, and the Dark King don't like us neither. I'm just about the strongest elven ranger t' make it." Grimmjow didn't sound proud of that, though. He sounded angry. "I shoulda died, but I broke my arm a week before the Dark King came to the forest, so I was laid up when my pappy and the others went out t' try an' stop him. And failed." Ichigo stared. This was the first he'd heard of this.

"Grimmjow, what happened?" He asked softly. He wanted to understand. Grimmjow took a deep breath, clearly steadying himself.

"We don't usually tell this story t' humans. It makes us look weak, an' we have t' be lords here whether we like it or not. So better not t' look weak. But you ever wondered why we left the forest?" Ichigo shook his head. It really hadn't occurred to him to wonder. He'd assumed the elves had been greedy and decided to become lords when the Dark King had offered it. "No elf leaves the Enchanted forest forever. Some of us have the wanderlust bad – my family always does, hah – but even we come back. Until the Dark King swept in with 'is army, catchin' us by surprise. We didn't think he had a thing t' do with us, he was human after all." Ichigo blinked in astonishment. The Dark King was _human?_ "Stupid of us, but we all make mistakes… anyway, he ripped apart our army, killed th' rangers an' th' guards." Grimmjow bowed his head for a moment. "My pappy died bravely, defendin' th' clan house. With our defenses broken, we figgered we was done for." Grimmjow's accent was thick again, but Ichigo had no trouble understanding. "But instead of finishin' us off, he said we would come rule fer him. Or he'd kill us all, includin' the women and kids." Ichigo flinched at that. Humans valued their children highly, and elves were so much less fertile than humans. He could only imagine what kind of a threat that would be to them. "So there wasn't no choice at all. We said yes, an' here we are."

"Really?" Ichigo absorbed that for a moment. It had never occurred to him that the elves didn't _want_ to be their lords. It made sense for Feralina and Grimmjow, but… "Do all the elves still want to go back to the forest?" He couldn't help but sound skeptical and Grimmjow scowled, but not at him.

"Not anymore, not after all the years o' his poison in us. Th' forest still gives the blessin', but I figger it's a matter o' time until it refuses t' take us back. An' then we won't be immortal anymore." Grimmjow sighed and shrugged. "Maybe it'd be for th' best. Then we could pass out o' the world." Ichigo felt his stomach clench at the thought. Grimmjow was talking about the end of the elves? Completely? After meeting Grimmjow and his sister Ichigo couldn't help to think that the world would be so much poorer without their magic and beauty in it. Without thinking, he picked up a piece of bread and threw it at the elf lord. "Hey!"

"You're too depressed now. Eat that." He ordered and watched as Grimmjow looked at him in bemused irritation, then ate the bread.

"You're just like Feralina, but she'd'a slapped me. Damn kids." Grimmjow said, shaking his head, and Ichigo grinned. "I get no respect around here."

"If we all suddenly treating you respectfully, you'd hate it, admit it." He teased and was satisfied to see a smile on the elf man's face.

"Never said I wouldn't. Now, eat up, we still have lessons." He said. Ichigo took the invitation, inhaling an egg and following it with a cucumber. It was very good, crisp and juicy. It made him think that Grimmjow was right about the harvest. Things were certainly growing well now.

But you never knew. Things could change.

* * *

A year later

"Happy birthday to Ichigo… happy birthday to you!" Feralina caroled as Grimmjow eyed the fruitcake with undisguised longing. Ichigo was with him on that. The fruitcake was an incredible extravagance, considering all the effort it had taken to beat the ingredients together. Not to mention the cost of the ingredients themselves. Dried fruit wasn't cheap, and sugar was even worse. "Blow out the candles!"

"Uh, right!" Ichigo took a deep breath and did his best to blow out the seventeen candles. Grimmjow had made the tiny wax tapers himself, reusing some candle ends to make the tiny candles. Ichigo thought they were very cute, since they had ended up a light pink color from all the different waxes. "Whew!" He muttered as he managed to blow them all out. "I guess that means I'll get my wish." But what was his wish?

_I wish Grimmjow would fall in love with me._ Ichigo's breath caught as he glanced at the handsome elf. Over the last year, he'd fallen head over heels in love, and he was willing to admit it. He didn't know Grimmjow's feelings though. The elf treated him like a brother, sparring and bantering, teaching and lecturing. But Grimmjow had promised his dad that nothing would happen until he was at least eighteen, so that could be self-defense.

He came back to reality as Feralina plopped a piece of fruitcake in front of him. Grimmjow and Feralina got good slices, and the rest was carefully packed up in wax for later. Fruitcakes could last almost indefinitely, if the rodents didn't get to them, and they only got better as they aged.

"So any more commissions?" Grimmjow asked as they ate and Feralina made a face.

"No. Times are getting' hard again and you know my business goes down when people are worried." She said. Grimmjow grimaced and Ichigo nodded sympathetically, his mouth full. Feralina was a good smith and a really talented jewelry maker. She never kept any of her pieces, but Ichigo had seen them and they were gorgeous. Her work helped pay the bills, but by the nature of things it was sporadic.

"Well, we'll just have t' make do." Grimmjow said philosophically. "More squirrel in the stew." Ichigo choked on a laugh, trying to imagine how people in his old village would look if they knew one of the elven lords ate squirrels. It was a funny mental image. They ate their fruitcake in silence for a while, savoring every crumb. Ichigo sighed as his slice finally vanished. It had been delicious. "So, ready for your real gift?"

"Real gift?" Ichigo blinked at the elf, wondering what he could have in mind. "What real gift?" He thought the cake was more than enough. It didn't last long, but it was an absolutely wonderful thing. Grimmjow laughed, sitting back.

"It's time for you t' get a spirit sword." He said and Ichigo's eyes went wide. A spirit sword?

"Really? You think it's time?" He felt thrilled and a little worried. Grimmjow had already told him that once he had his spirit sword, his training would go up several notches. He was getting very, very good at holding the elves off but he still wasn't sure about this. Grimmjow nodded, standing up.

"It's time. C'mon, we keep 'em in the armory." Ichigo followed the elf, Feralina trailing behind and nibbling on a last little piece of dried fruit. The armory was down in the basement and kept locked up, but Grimmjow had the key and quickly let them in. He used a bit of his elven talent to make a ball of golden light, gently illuminating the armory. "Just the stuff on that wall there. The rest of it is normal crap." Ichigo walked to the wall, looking at the weapons.

Most of the armory was filled with plain but well-made weapons, well stored and maintained, but these were different. The swords were in all different sizes and shapes, and it wasn't just swords. There were spears, knives, maces, whips and some things Ichigo couldn't even name.

"Touch 'em all, see what's right for you." Grimmjow told him, but Ichigo didn't even need to guess. He went straight for the swords, looking them over and gently running his hands over the hilts. Everyone one of these swords was decorated in some way. Some had little beads worked into the hilt wrappings, and others had a jewel set into the hilt or the sword itself. The jewels were nothing fancy – mostly semi-precious – but Ichigo could feel the power coiled inside them.

Then he started to have a problem. Several of the swords spoke to him strongly. One sword seemed to beckon to him, a sword with a white wrapped hilt inset with moonstone. But somehow, despite how much it called to him, it seemed a bit… off. Ichigo kept looking and finally found a slim, odd looking sword. It had been forged out of some kind of pitch black metal and had a very plain hilt. The only ornamentation was a small garnet set into the blade that glowed like a drop of blood.

"This one." He said, lifting the sword up and looking down it. It was perfect. It fit into his hand like it was meant to be. He glanced at Grimmjow and Feralina. Grimmjow looked shocked and Feralina was… amused?

"Ichigo, what a thing to do, taking our pappy's sword! Imagine all the sentimental shit on it!" Feralina said merrily before Grimmjow punched her in the shoulder. "Hey!"

"Shut up, bitch." He growled and Ichigo swallowed as the elf gripped his shoulders. Grimmjow looked deeply moved, now. "Pappy would be happy t' see his sword goin' out into th' world again. You use it well. And I can tell you the name o' it right off… it's called Zangetsu."

"Zangetsu." Ichigo whispered the name, feeling the deep connection to his soul. And he felt a presence within the blade stir and look at him, but it said nothing. "Thank you, Grimmjow." This was a priceless gift, and the fact that it had belonged to Grimmjow's and Feralina's father made it all the more special.

This was a birthday he would never forget.


	4. In Search of Gold

Ichigo eyed his opponents, as they slowly circled him.

He was facing Grimmjow and Feralina together, with his new sword. He'd already been taking on multiple opponents, but now they were using their more powerful forms. He was detecting a strange reluctance from Grimmjow, though. Feralina was going at it with skill and verve.

Just as he thought that, the elven woman leapt at him and Zangetsu clashed with Leona. Grimmjow attacked from the other side, but his attack was weaker and Ichigo beat him off easily before concentrating on Feralina. She swore as he slashed her armor, raising a thin line of blood.

"Stop jacking off and fight, you worthless bastard!" She screeched at Grimmjow who grimaced and attacked more strongly. Ichigo had to give more of his attention to the man and it became harder and harder to hold Feralina off. Then he saw an opening, and took it, ramming his shoulder into Grimmjow's gut and knocking the elf off his feet. Feralina's swearing was sulfurous as she thrust her sword into the ground. "I've had enough of this! Renji! Where the fuck is Renji?"

"What?" Ichigo said, perplexed, as he got off the groaning elven man. "What do we need him for?" The half-elf forester was very good, and he was teaching Ichigo to handle a bow, which Grimmjow was only middling at. But he usually didn't help them with sword work, which apparently was his weak area.

"This idiot won't go full out on you." Feralina glared at Grimmjow and Ichigo looked at him. The blue haired elf avoided his eyes. "Something about being 'afraid to hurt you'. Hah! I think he should be afraid for himself!" She jibed and Grimmjow growled at her. Ichigo stared at him, feeling hurt and offended. But then something occurred to him and he couldn't help but smile. Was Grimmjow worried because he had feelings for him?

"Well, it's not fair going at him with Pantera and Leona when he's wearing that damned collar!" Grimmjow defended himself. "You know it's not!" Feralina sneered, completely unimpressed by that argument.

"Yet, he still kicks your ass. Just go sit on the sidelines you worthless bastard. Renji! There you are!" The half-elf had come to investigate and froze in place at the enthusiastic greeting. Ichigo held back a snicker at his worried expression. "Get your sword out, you're taking over for Grimmy."

"Really? Well, if you want." Renji shrugged and pulled out his sword. Ichigo noticed it was also a spirit blade, set with a bit of jade carved to look like a snake and a monkey. "Howl, Zabimaru!" Ichigo watched as Renji changed slightly. His tattoos became more pronounced and elaborate, but that was really the only difference.

"Are you guys related?" Ichigo suddenly asked, making a connection in his mind. There was dead silence for a moment as the elves and half-elf stared at him.

"What makes you think that?" Grimmjow asked but Ichigo could tell he was just stalling. He shrugged, looking at Renji again. Now that he was looking carefully, he could see a faint resemblance in his face.

"Grind, Pantera, Roar, Leona, Howl, Zabimaru. It just seemed obvious all of a sudden." The family seemed to favor animal spirits. There was an embarrassed pause before Feralina laughed.

"We better hope we're not that transparent to the Dark King, or we're royally fucked! Yeah, you're right Ichigo. Meet our half-brother Renji." Feralina poked her half-brother and he fended her off irritably. "After she found out she was engaged to a guy my age, mamma went off her nut for a while and had a torrid love affair with one of her guards. This horrible creature was the result. Don't get too close, he might have fleas."

"If I have fleas I picked them up off of you." Renji retorted easily, hefting his sword. "Were we going to fight or just talk him to death?" Ichigo readied his sword, and not a moment too soon as Feralina attacked with abandon. Renji wasn't as good a swordsman as Grimmjow, but he was far more enthusiastic and soon Ichigo found that he was very hard pressed. His eyes narrowed as he pulled deeply on his talent, fighting past the collar, and then he blinked as he felt a silent offer.

"Shatter, Zangetsu!" He felt the power of his spirit sword flowing through him, a beautiful river of black and red. Feralina sprang back and Renji gaped in surprise. Ichigo wondered what they saw, but didn't let it distract him as he launched a brutal attack on Renji. A moment later the half-elf was on the ground, dazed from a good blow to the head and he was free to concentrate on Feralina. She was darting around like a mad thing, but he eventually managed to corner and 'kill' her.

Just in time to block a strike at his back. Ichigo turned his head to see Grimmjow grinning at him widely.

"If you can pull a spirit sword past a retaining collar, there ain't nothin' you can't do! Let's do this!" Ichigo laughed in pure joy and gave himself over to the pleasure of the fight. Grimmjow was better than Feralina and much, much better than Renji. He was able to attack almost full out, without fear of hurting the elf too much. In the end, it was Grimmjow that won, with a combination of treachery and experience. Raw power could only go so far, particularly with the retaining collar in place. Ichigo panted heavily, lying on the ground with Grimmjow's sword at his throat, Zangetsu several feet away. But he was pleased to see the elf was panting just as heavily, and there was blood dripping into one of his eye's from a wound Ichigo had dealt earlier. "Good job, kid." Grimmjow pulled his weapon away, his spiritual presence going down as he went back to his normal form. "You look awesome like that, by th' way."

"Really? What do I look like?" Ichigo wished he had a mirror, and Grimmjow gave him the next best thing by wiping off his sword then holding it up, so Ichigo could see a bit of himself in the mirrored surface. He blinked as he saw his hair was longer, messier and seemed to be dazzled with flecks of glittering garnets. "Huh. Uh, how do I turn it off?" He had no idea but he could feel amusement from his sword. Grimmjow seemed frozen in place.

"Turn it…" The elf lord snorted, then began to laugh. Ichigo blinked as he laughed so hard, his shoulders were shaking. "Ichigo, y'know, we usually train people to maintain it! Turning it OFF isn't supposed t'be the problem!"

"This kid is scary. Why are we training him again?" Renji asked and Feralina slapped him upside the head. "Ow!"

"Because we like scary things. Grimmy, stop laughing and tell him how to let go of Zangetsu." She ordered and Grimmjow finally complied. It took several tries, but Ichigo finally found the mental switch and managed to release his hold on his spirit sword. His power went back to more comfortable levels, and Ichigo realized how much of a strain it had been, holding onto Zangetsu despite the retaining collar. "Are you guys hungry? Because I am so hungry." Feralina held her stomach dramatically, but Ichigo didn't doubt she was really hungry, since he was starving himself.

"Oh hell yeah! Let's put the crap away and see what's cooking." Grimmjow said, sheathing his sword. Ichigo nodded and followed the elves and half-elf as they went to clean their gear, then put it away. After that chore was done they all visited the kitchen and got a bit of bread, cheese, pickled carrots and beets. Ichigo tore into the food ravenously and grinned as Feralina ate a bunch of beets and then proudly displayed her purple tongue to a pained Grimmjow.

This was quite possibly the best time of his life.

* * *

It was pure chance that led Ichigo to visit Grimmjow in his study that day.

Grimmjow always had paperwork to do. He received reports from his foresters and guardsmen, reports from mayors and judges. He had to review and sign off on any forms of capital punishment, and depending on the case, he sometimes had to go in person to seal the forms and witness the execution. Fortunately, those trips didn't happen very often, since Grimmjow always seemed very drained when he got back. Ichigo thought the elf just didn't like to see anyone die, even if they deserved it.

Today, though, Ichigo had noticed that Grimmjow hadn't come down to breakfast. He'd asked the servants and found that he hadn't asked for any food, either. So he'd decided to be helpful and gotten him his favorite breakfast, three eggs, a piece of toast, a slice of goats' cheese and some fresh tomato. Opening the door to the study, he froze as he saw what was going on inside.

Grimmjow's head was on his desk, one hand tangled in his hair in a desperate grip. Feralina was kneeling beside him and Ichigo watched in disbelief as she gently ran a hand over her brother's back. He'd never seen her treat Grimmjow gently before, and he felt ice settle in his stomach at the sight.

"I can't make the numbers work Fera. I can't make it work." Ichigo had also never heard Grimmjow sounding like he might cry. It was horrifying, seeing the proud elf brought to such a state. "What th' hell are we gonna do?"

"We'll make it work Grimmy. We can sell the china, the last of the jewelry." Fera said soothingly but Grimmjow just made a low, pained sound. "We can do another workin' in the hills. Somethin'."

"You and Renji almost fucking died last time! We can't… we can't…" Grimmjow's breath caught at the end, almost a sob, and Ichigo stared as Feralina crooned in his ear. Grimmjow suddenly grabbed her, burying his face in her shoulder as his shoulders shook with emotion.

"Renji is strong, and so am I. We won't die on you brother, and we'll get what we need. We can make it work. Stop yer whinin'." She said as she looked up, meeting Ichigo's gaze. "You're scarin' Ichigo." Grimmjow jerked, looking up sharply. Ichigo met his startled blue green eyes and realized that he probably did look very afraid. "I think he brought you some brekky." Feralina said with that same, alarming gentleness as Grimmjow shook his head.

"Right… right. Guess I should eat somethin'. Sorry about that Ichigo." Grimmjow sounded more like himself and Ichigo set the tray down nervously.

"What's wrong?" He asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he had to ask. Grimmjow sighed as Feralina stole a piece of his tomato, casually munching on the vegetable.

"Special levy from th' King. He wants fifty gold pieces." Grimmjow said shortly and Ichigo felt his eyes widen. That was enough gold to buy the entire manor! Well, maybe not, the manor was rather big. But it was a lot of money.

"H-How… doesn't he know this is a poor place?" Ichigo asked and almost cringed as Grimmjow vented a bitter laugh. Feralina paused her eating for a moment, then finished the tomato slice.

"'Course he does. That's the point. If I put out a levy for all that, people'll be starvin' in the winter. S'what he wants. He feeds on pain." He said, his tone bitter and angry but also filled with a soul deep weariness. Ichigo swallowed hard. He'd known the Dark King fed on pain, everyone knew it, but he hadn't guessed he could feed at such a remove. It explained a lot about how the elves ruled. "And I won't do it. I won't. I'll find a way, even if I have to sell myself in a fucking whorehouse!" Feralina broke into a giggle fit and Grimmjow gave her a jaundiced look as Ichigo choked. "What d'you think is so funny? You think no one'd buy me?"

"I think mamma'd die of the shame! And I'd have to go with you, so she'd die twice!" Feralina smiled then and patted Grimmjow on the shoulder. "Glad you're feelin' better though. We'll make it through, see if we don't." Grimmjow just looked at her for a moment, then shook his head. Ichigo had the feeling that something was being left unsaid, but he didn't know what.

"Thanks for the food, Ichi. I'll meet you for talent lessons in, oh, an hour up on the roof, alright?" He said. Ichigo nodded, ducking out of the office and made a silent vow not to go in there again.

He really didn't want to see Grimmjow struggling to deal with the King's impossible demands.

* * *

Byakuya looked down at the paper on his desk, wondering if he should write back. It was, perhaps, a bit scandalous to be writing to an unmarried young woman when he was already married. Of course, she was his daughter-in-law. Technically, it was quite alright to be writing to a relative.

But even by elven standards, his marriage was a grotesque sham. Lady Garana was much, much older than him. That wasn't necessarily unusual for elves – May/December romances could happen – but they were not in love. Which made the fact that his son-in-law was old enough to be Byakuya's father absolutely cringe worthy. His daughter-in-law was actually his peer in terms of age.

He'd met Feralina before, of course. But that had been in the Enchanted forest, when they were both nothing more than babies. He vaguely remembered dipping her hair in an ink well, and being soundly slapped by the feisty elven girl. He also remembered both their mothers scolding them. And now he was married to her mother, the same woman who had scolded him as a child. There was no more effective deterrent to desire than that memory.

Feralina had been at the wedding, of course. Byakuya remembered how lovely she'd been in her gown of light blue silk, and the sour look she'd worn as her mother had made the vows. Grimmjow had taken it better, wishing him luck and a happy marriage. Then Feralina had proceeded to stay with him and his new wife for a month, as Grimmjow went back to his estates.

That month had been both traumatic and thrilling. Feralina was a rude, crude little barbarian and Lady Garana was constantly trying to tame her, without much success. She'd turned things upside down in his calm life, and Byakuya had found himself trying to tame her as well… when he wasn't quietly admiring her spirit and zest for life.

And that was the crux of the problem. Byakuya found her attractive. She was his age, quite beautiful and vivacious. Her lack of manners drove him quietly insane, but she still inspired far more passion than Lady Garana, even if much of the passion was directed towards the desire to throttle her. And she was even more charming in letters, where her personality shone through without the most irritating parts.

It had been good that she'd gone to go live with Grimmjow. They had been on the verge of impropriety, and the fact that Garana would probably just smile didn't help. The whole thing felt incestuous, and Byakuya had needed Feralina to go as much as Grimmjow had needed her at home. But now he couldn't stop writing her letters.

The news about the special levy wasn't good. Byakuya hesitated before picking up his pen again. Foolish or not, impropriety or not, he had an excellent reason to write Feralina back this time. His estates had not been assessed a special levy. He would have to check with his relatives, but he was willing to bet they hadn't either. That meant Grimmjow was in particular trouble, not exactly a surprise, but definitely something he needed to know.

Maybe there was even something he could do about it.

* * *

"You're sure about this, Ichigo?" Grimmjow asked for the third time. Ichigo scowled and punched him on the arm. "Hey!"

"I'm just as sure as I was the last time you asked." He said irritably, fingering his collar. For the first time in over a year, he would be taking it off. And the fact that this task could very well kill him didn't matter. He was going to do it anyway.

There was simply no way the elves could meet the special levy without inflicting severe hardship on the people. They'd raised about ten gold pieces from the farms and townsfolk, but anymore and there would be starvation. They'd raised five more golds catching game and selling furs. The china and jewelry was still unsold, mainly because there wasn't much point in selling it. The china would only fetch about a gold, and Feralina's jewelry might make two golds on a good day. Apparently, they'd sold all the best pieces during the flood Grimmjow had told him about.

Grimmjow and Feralina had some savings set aside, but that had amounted to only five golds. So even if they got the full value of Feralina's jewelry, which wasn't likely, they were hovering around seventeen gold pieces. That was ridiculously short of where they needed to be, so they were making a special trip to the hills.

There was a special metal in the hills. Known as adamantium, Ichigo had been surprised to find out it was the same stuff his sword was made out of. Elves treasured it, since it could be used to create the most powerful of spirit swords, but they very rarely had any of it. That was because the process they used to extract it from the ground was difficult at best, fatal at worst. Adamantium was buried so deeply in the ground that mining would have been absurdly difficult, so they called it to the surface with spirit talent.

Unfortunately, the cost in power was ghastly, and once the ritual was started it could not be stopped. Ichigo glanced at Renji and Feralina. Feralina seemed completely calm and composed, but Renji was looking like a man heading to his execution. Although, come to think of it, Feralina wasn't joking or acting up like she usually did. He could only assume they were both showing the strain in their own ways. Grimmjow was worried about everyone except himself, but that was no surprise. Four of his most trusted guardsmen were along for the ride, since when the ritual was done all of the elves would be completely unable to defend themselves. They would be drained, unconscious, or worse.

"Sorry. It's just, you're not obligated t'do this." Grimmjow said and Ichigo resisted the urge to punch him again.

"Grimm, I know what special levies do to people. I've _been_ one of those people." Ichigo said and Grimmjow winced. "The guy you sold our village to never paid out of his own pocket. So just shut up, alright? I'm ready to do this." He wasn't happy, and he was willing to admit that he was scared, but he was ready.

"Right." Grimmjow sounded as enthusiastic as Renji looked. They finally reached the spot the area they wanted, a lightly wooded hillside. It wasn't hard to find a nice, big rock to work on. "We've never done it here before, so the adamantium should still be pretty close to the surface." Grimmjow said, trying to put the best face on it he could as he pulled out some silk cords from his saddlebags. Ichigo watched curiously as he laid out the cords in a particular pattern. It reminded him a little of a dreamcatcher, with a cord running along the outside and many cords forming a pattern with a hole inside. The outer cord was looped so there were places for them to stand.

"That depends on how much adamantium there is here." Renji muttered, taking his spot in the pattern. "We have done a survey, right?"

"Yes, it was marginal." Feralina said, her voice calm and controlled as she took her spot. "But it's the best we have left." Renji shuddered and looked away as Grimmjow and Ichigo took their spots. Ichigo took a deep breath as Grimmjow reached over and unhooked his collar. He controlled his spiritual pressure almost instantly but still saw the elves wince at the burst.

"Still need t' work on your control, Ichigo. Are we ready?" Ichigo and the others nodded. They'd gone through the ritual ahead of time, although really, there wasn't much for the three of them to do except serve as power sources for Grimmjow. As the oldest and most experienced, it was his duty to channel their power. Ichigo might have been able to channel it easier, given that he was the strongest in terms of raw power, but he didn't have the control to direct the flow the way it needed.

Power rose up in the circle and Ichigo closed his eyes as the ritual began. There was no chanting, no drums, nothing but silence and the rising thunder of spiritual talent. Ichigo felt a gentle suction on his strength, and at first he wondered why everyone had been so afraid. It didn't seem very painful or dangerous. But it kept going on, and on, and the pressure began to gradually increase. Ichigo felt his strength begin to decrease and a pain began, behind his left ear and travelling down his spine.

"How long does this take?" He gasped out and Grimmjow answered through gritted teeth.

"Hours. Shut up." Ichigo didn't take offense, just letting out a soft moan as the power drain continued. Hours of this? They all endured, but after perhaps another half-hour Ichigo could see and feel Renji wavering. The aura of the redhead's suffering was palpable, and he could feel Grimmjow delicately lessening the burden on his half-brother. He couldn't remove Renji from the link, but he could cut the power drain from him to almost nothing. But that meant the burden was thrown on Ichigo and Feralina. Grimmjow himself was putting almost no power into the ritual, too busy monitoring their reactions and gauging how much talent he could safely channel. Ichigo glanced at the center of the circle and saw bits of black metal beginning to appear. They were getting close now, but how much longer would it be?

Feralina was the next to fail, and Ichigo felt it as Grimmjow cut her participation down to almost nothing. Then it was just him and the elf lord, and Grimmjow's power joined the circle in a steadily rising tide of blue fire. Ichigo whimpered as he felt Grimmjow finally cut him out as well, and watched as the elven lord spent his own power in a slow, final pulse. Then he closed the ritual and Ichigo cried out as pain exploded behind his eyes. Something about the ritual had cushioned him from the full shock, but now it was over and he was conscious of the anguish.

Mercifully, he passed out.

* * *

Ichigo came to his senses to find himself in a tent.

At first, he had no idea where he was. But then he glanced around and saw Renji and Feralina, both curled up in the boneless way of people so deeply asleep, not even an earthquake could wake them. He tried to sit up and a spike of pain went through his head, making him gasp. Then Ichigo blinked as he realized he couldn't feel his own spiritual pressure. Normally, he was always aware of it, and the presence of the restraining collar. Right now, he might as well have been a perfectly normal boy. Even Zangetsu's presence was absent. Ichigo looked up as the tent flap opened and Grimmjow ducked inside.

"I figgered you'd be the first one t' wake up." Ichigo met Grimmjow's eyes and could see the pain and weariness on the elven lord's face. "Here, eat, you need it." Ichigo eyed the food with revulsion. He felt so drained that even eating seemed like a chore, but he took the bowl of porridge anyway. After a few bites, his hunger suddenly kindled and he devoured the food more quickly. "Careful, don't choke." Grimmjow warned as he ate his own porridge and Ichigo nodded, mouth full.

"Grimm? Did it work?" He asked as he came up for air. Grimmjow nodded.

"Better'n I thought it would. We have a hundred gold pieces worth of adamantium." Ichigo swallowed at the number, although Grimmjow seemed too worn to get much pleasure out of it. "We'll lose at least a tenth of it on wholesale, but that's still ninety golds, and the stuff is in demand. We won't sell it all at once, though. Word might get out an' then there'll be another levy t' clean us out. Just sellin' what we need." Ichigo nodded, looking down into his empty bowl. "I'll get you another."

"I can – grk." Ichigo gasped as he tried to stand and the pain in his head seemed to flow down his spine. Grimmjow took the bowl, shaking his head.

"Nah, you're drained, don't strain yerself. I'll get the guards t'do it, actually." Ichigo relaxed at that. He was sure Grimmjow felt every bit as bad as he did, even if he was better at hiding it. The next bowl he was given had more than porridge, it had some sliced meat and pickled vegetables on top to give it more substance. Ichigo devoured it greedily, beginning to feel a bit better as the food hit his system. Then Feralina stirred.

"Oh…" She moaned softly, eyes screwed shut as both Ichigo and her brother looked at her. "Must be alive… want to die…" Renji whimpered in his sleep, and Ichigo could tell he was going to be waking up soon as well. Grimmjow stuck his head out of the tent to ask for more food as Feralina tentatively opened her eyes. "Please kill me…"

"Sorry, no can do, mamma would have my hide if I done killed my sister." Grimmjow managed a credible grin as he brought Feralina a bowl of porridge. "S'temptin', though. Here, eat up."

"Mmnmm." Feralina took the bowl and just scooped it up with her fingers, ignoring he spoon, and slowly licked off her digits. She didn't bother to sit up, eating it as she lay on her side. "S'good. Is Renji dead? …Oh." Renji had just woken up with a gasp of pain, almost kicking Feralina in the side. "No. What a shame."

"Be nice now." Grimmjow admonished as he put the last bowl of porridge beside Renji. The redheaded half-elf looked at it like he wasn't sure what it was. "Food. You eat it." Grimmjow prompted him but Renji just looked at him in a daze. "I hope yer brains ain't permanently fried."

"Wouldn't make much difference. S'cuse me, I'm goin' back t'sleep." Feralina whispered before burrowing under her blanket. Ichigo decided that sounded like an excellent idea and settled back down on his blankets.

Sleep came very quickly and was uninterrupted by any dreams.


	5. From Beyond the Grave

Author's note: The lemons are coming, I swear! Next chapter will be full of them…

"I would never have believed this could be so much fun." Ichigo smiled as he rode his horse. Well, not his horse, it belonged to Grimmjow and he wouldn't have wanted to own the mare anyway. Horses ate a lot of hay, especially during the winter. But this was the horse he always practiced on, a blood bay mare with a kindly and tolerant disposition.

"It is, isn't it?" Feralina agreed. She was riding with him today on an elven horse. Ichigo hadn't realized there was a difference, but apparently animals that lived and bred in the enchanted forest had unusual qualities. Her horse was a midnight stallion, but perfectly behaved despite the presence of a mare. Other than that, Ichigo couldn't see anything unusual about him, and that could just be good training. "And it's a beautiful day for a ride, hey?"

"It sure is." It was a fine autumn day. Not too cold yet, but the leaves were beginning to change colors. "Feralina, I was wondering. Who are you in love with?" Ichigo had tried to puzzle it out for some time. He'd ruled out Renji immediately. Feralina and the half-elf were closely related, and she clearly regarded him as a brother. That left the humans on the manor but that posed a problem, mainly that Ichigo couldn't imagine a human man refusing his elven lady. Maybe if he was married, but most of the married men on the manor didn't seem like Feralina's type. He'd watched her interacting with the servants, and couldn't detect any hint of anything going on. So who? If it had been anyone else, he would have hesitated to ask, but Feralina was someone he felt he could approach directly.

"Ah, you'd ask that now." Feralina huffed out a sigh. "I just got a letter from 'im." She hesitated a moment. "Promise you won't think it's disgustin'?" Ichigo blinked and nodded. "My mamma's husband. I want him somethin' bad."

"Wait, your mother?" Ichigo's eyes widened. "I thought she was dead!" Feralina and Grimmjow both talked about how she'd die of shame if she was here, and he'd assumed that meant she was dead. Although… come to think of it, that only meant she wasn't here. Feralina snorted, then laughed.

"Oh, mamma's alive! But the Dark King said she had t' get married again, an' didn't give her a choice. That's when she had Renji, mamma's version of a rebellion, not that anyone cared." Feralina scowled, looking at her horses' ears. "You humans don't understand this kinda thing. If we was back in the forest, I'd probably have bedded him by now."

"Can you explain it to me?" Ichigo asked, trying to keep any judgement out of his tone. It did sound nauseating, that she would betray her mother that way, but elves weren't humans. Feralina made a small, non-committal sound then shrugged.

"If you want. Okay, Ichigo, let's start at the beginning. And the beginning is, back before the Dark King came, elves hardly ever got married at all." Ichigo blinked at that. "Marriage is a human thing. We elven women only get fertile twice a year, an' if a woman really wanted a baby, she'd wait 'til then an' then take every man she could find."

"What!" Ichigo tried to wrap his mind around that idea. It didn't fit very well. "But… but you and Grimmjow seem to know who your father is." They acted like there was no doubt at all, and if they'd been conceived that way how could they be sure? Feralina laughed at his expression.

"After the baby's conceived, all the men get to touch the mamma to find out who pappy is." Feralina explained. "Pappy's power responds t' his own baby, an' then he sticks with mamma's clan to raise it, or sometimes she goes t' his clan. After she had Grimmy, our mamma decided she really liked pappy and went t' his clan. An' she wasn't tryin' too hard t' have a baby after that, so she just had him. There was never any doubt I was his. But they wasn't never married, not the way you humans do things." Ichigo swallowed and nodded. He could see why the elves didn't share this with humans. It went completely against their way of life.

"So your mother wouldn't mind if you had an affair with her husband?" Ichigo asked hesitantly and Feralina nodded.

"She wouldn't, but he does." Feralina sounded a bit weary now. "My clan is more informal than some, ya know? Some elves take marriage all serious an' he's one of 'em. It don't help that the Dark King makes mamma take fertility potions and such. The way he wears us down, he's afraid he'll run out." Feralina scowled at nothing for a moment. "I got maybe twenty more years before he tries to marry me off. Bastard." She muttered and Ichigo cringed a little at the thought. He'd known arranged marriages were normal for nobles, but he hadn't realized the Dark King did the arranging. That was a frightening thought.

"Couldn't Grimmjow arrange something for you?" He winced as she shot him a scorching look. "I mean, something better than what the Dark King might do?" Clearly he didn't give a fig about his subjects' feelings. The glare lessened a bit and Fera shrugged.

"He probably will in another ten years or so. Sucks, but you're right, I don't wanna get stuck with one o' the Dark King's pets. Ah, this is too depressin'. Let's gallop!" She kicked her horse and he jumped forward, eager to run. Ichigo followed suit with a grin, although his more placid mare had no hope of keeping up with Feralina's gorgeous stallion. Ichigo loved the feeling of the wind in his hair, and the speed his horse could give. Then Feralina pulled her horse back to a trot and Ichigo followed suit as his mare breathed heavily. She wasn't exhausted by any means, but the gallop did take a bit. "That was fun, hey?"

"Sure was." Ichigo agreed with a grin. They circling back now, and he could see the manor through the trees. "I wonder what's for supper?" His stomach was reminding him that lunch had been a while ago, and his only snacks had been some carrots. Feralina laughed, looking over at him fondly.

"Yer such a bottomless pit! We're havin' venison roast with potatoes an' carrots an' peas. Bet you'll love it." Ichigo's stomach growled at the description and he blushed as she grinned. "An' some stewed apples with cream for dessert."

"That sounds wonderful." Ichigo had had stewed apples before, but the way the cook made them here was just amazing. She would slice up chestnuts very finely and stuff the apples with them, resulting in a beautiful earthy concoction. "I'm so happy here." He suddenly said, looking at the manor. Everyone accepted him and didn't seem to care if he was Grimmjow's 'concubine'. He had more friends than he'd ever had in the village, the food was wonderful and most of all, he had the friendship of these marvelous and exotic elves. The only thing that could have made it better was having more than Grimmjow's friendship, but Ichigo was certain it would happen. The backgammon games were getting a little strained and he could see the heat in the elven lord's eyes. After all, his eighteenth birthday was less than six months away.

"Glad t' hear it. We're happy t' have you, Ichigo." Feralina said with a smile. Ichigo returned it as they reached the manor and dismounted, bringing the horses to the stable. The stable hands quickly took care of them, although Feralina had to lead her own horse in, like Grimmjow needed to handle his. Ichigo smiled and fed his mare a bit of carrot as Feralina cooed to her stallion.

He really couldn't imagine anything better than this.

* * *

"Okay, we've got a really hard lesson t'do." Grimmjow and Ichigo were up on the roof again, and Ichigo shivered as the wind bit into him. He was wearing a brand new coat, thanks to the elves generosity, but winter was definitely coming in. "Here, y'should be wearin' a scarf." Grimmjow took off his, a thick, white woolen scarf, and passed it over. Ichigo hesitated a moment.

"What about you?" He asked, concerned. Grimmjow looked strained and uncomfortable. The elven lord shrugged it off.

"I'll be fine, you're the one that's gonna hate me." That didn't sound good. Ichigo bit his lip before wrapping the scarf around his neck. "Okay. So what I'm gonna teach you t'day is how t' withstand a mental attack."

"A mental attack?" Ichigo blinked. He'd never heard of such a thing. "What do you mean?" Grimmjow huffed out a breath, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

"It ain't a common talent, launchin' a mental attack, but everyone can resist. Feralina and Renji can't launch one, but I can, so I'm the only one that can teach you this." Grimmjow said reluctantly. "I don't know if you've got the talent t' launch one, but you might. I'm just teachin' you defense for now, because I _know_ the Dark King can do this." Ichigo swallowed hard at the reminder and nodded. "Okay. First, I'll teach you t'do it meditatin' and we'll work up to when you're not. Ready?"

"Ready." Ichigo closed his eyes and began meditating. Dreamily, he listened to Grimmjow's instructions and pictured blocks in his mind. Grimmjow said bricks, but Ichigo found that painted children's blocks worked better for him. He remembered them clearly from when he was a child, and the surfaces were painted prettily, although chipped and worn down over the years. To his surprise, he realized that many of the blocks had nothing to do with his childhood. One had Yuzu's favorite barrette on it, another block was white with little turquoise beads, and reminded him of Grimmjow's sword… were these blocks made of memories?

Then the wall trembled as something touched it. Ichigo's eyes opened and he looked at Grimmjow. The elf was looking at him with a grim expression and Ichigo gasped as he felt a shove on his mental barrier.

"That's a simple attack. It gets worse, but the only way t' teach you this is t' do it. Sorry Ichigo. If it makes you feel any better, I puked the first time my pappy did this t' me." That didn't make Ichigo feel remotely better as Grimmjow changed his tactics.

The next attack was designed to pry apart his blocks. Delicate tendrils of force tried to squeeze past the narrowest of openings, but Ichigo had built his mental wall well. He had to force the blocks back into position a few times, but it wasn't too hard. Then several attacks happened at once, and Ichigo found his walls beginning to come apart. Snarling, he struggled to keep the blocks in place. A pain was starting to build and he felt a growing pressure on his mind.

"You're not trying to kill me here, are you?" He gasped out. He wasn't meditating anymore, but he still had the wall up. Grimmjow laughed mirthlessly.

"No. If I break in, I won't do nothin' more. But having a mental wall broken hurts like a fucker, sorry Ichigo." Grimmjow's eyes narrowed and Ichigo felt it as he changed his tactics again. Now it felt like a wall of knives was flaying his barrier, trying to chip away at his defenses. "Yer doin' well. I broke on th' last one, the first time I did this."

"Great." Ichigo groaned in pain as he felt his blocks begin to wear away. He couldn't reinforce them quickly enough to deal with the force of Grimmjow's mind. A block suddenly failed completely and Ichigo jolted in pain as he felt an alien presence in his inner world. The fact that it was someone he respected, even loved, didn't matter. It wasn't supposed to be there, not like this, and a primal part of his mind lashed out.

Ichigo was momentarily aware of a strange vision. It was like he was overlooking a great forest, with trees that were larger and more majestic than any he'd ever seen in his life. There was a lake, vibrantly blue, and built on the edge of the lake was a beautiful home that reminded him a little of the manor, but had clearly not been built by human hands. Birds scattered from the trees in alarm and a great panther, which had been drinking from the lake, looked up at him. Ichigo saw her eyes were the exact same shade as Grimmjow's before she fled into the forest.

Then the vision vanished and Ichigo was back in his own body, looking in astonishment at Grimmjow. The elf was bent over, an arm around his stomach as he made small choking sounds. Ichigo's head hurt, but he jumped to his feet and went to Grimmjow, putting an arm around his shoulders as the elf dry heaved.

"Grimmjow, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" Ichigo asked, shocked and deeply concerned. Grimmjow shook his head, swallowing hard.

"Shit. Shit. How'd you do that? How?" Grimmjow whispered, looking at him through pupils that were dilated to pinpoints. "Y'came back at me and broke my barrier. Hurts like fuck. Shit…" Ichigo paled and held the elf as he managed to throw up a small amount of water and bile. That seemed to help a bit and Grimmjow groaned, leaning against him. "Shouldn't'a been able t' do that without trainin'. I didn't have much of a barrier up… shit."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I just lashed out." He felt terrible about it now, although he had a vile headache from the pounding Grimmjow had given him. The elf just shook his head and closed his eyes. Ichigo bit his lip as he realized Grimmjow was shivering. "Here, your scarf…" He tugged it off with one hand and did his best to get it wrapped around the elf. Grimmjow's shivering seemed to ease a little and he looked up, his eyes looking more normal.

"Thanks. Well, I guess we know one thing." Grimmjow said and Ichigo gave him a questioning look. The elf replied with a crooked grin. "You've definitely got th' talent for a good attack. Well done."

"I'd feel better about that if I'd meant to do it!" Ichigo said, relieved to see that Grimmjow was recovering. "Do you have something for this headache?" Now that he wasn't scared to death for the elf, the headache was coming in with a vengeance. Grimmjow laughed before motioning to the box of food he'd brought with him.

"In there. It's a green jar, y'can't miss it." Ichigo quickly rooted through the box, finding that it also had bread, wrapped in cloth to keep it warm. He took out the jar, taking a deep drink and shuddering at the taste. It was absolutely vile, but definitely did help with his pounding head. "Hand it over, I'm dyin' here." Ichigo passed the jar to Grimmjow before tearing into the bread. The elf pounded it back, grimacing. Then Ichigo passed over half the bread and he accepted it with a nod. "Thanks."

"It's nothing." They sat together munching for a moment and Ichigo shivered as the wind touched him again. He tried to fold up the collar of his coat to protect his neck and Grimmjow sighed. "Need t' get you a scarf, Ichigo. Shoulda thought o' that."

"You can't think of everything. Uh, Grimmjow, what I saw… was that your mind?" It seemed strange that Grimmjow's mind would look like a forest. The elf shook his head.

"That was my inner world. You'll learn yours someday, when you connect to your sword, but that's somethin' that can't be forced. You saw the house in my world?" Ichigo nodded and Grimmjow smiled, remembering. "That was the clan house, b'fore the Dark King forced us outta it. Beautiful place. I want t' go back someday."

"I wonder what my inner world will look like." Ichigo said to himself. It was an interesting question. Would it look like his childhood home, like Grimmjow? Or like the manor? He was happy here. Or something else entirely? Grimmjow shrugged, pushing himself to his feet and wavering a bit.

"We'll know when it happens. C'mon, let's go inside, it's cold out here." Ichigo nodded, following Grimmjow as the elf picked up the box and took it inside.

He'd had enough of lessons today.

* * *

_Ichigo looked around at the strange landscape he was standing in._

_It was a forest, but instead of the mix of oaks, maples and other leafy trees he'd seen in Grimmjow's mind, it was full of pines and poplars. The trees were much smaller and scraggly, as if they were growing in thin soil without much nourishment. But they were still full of life, dark branches spreading towards a star spangled sky. It was nighttime here, and a full moon illuminated the forest almost as clearly as daylight. Ichigo bent down and picked up a pinecone, gently bouncing it in his hand. It felt good, rough and real._

"_Is this my inner world?" He asked, not expecting an answer. He was surprised when a voice behind him spoke._

"_Yes." Ichigo turned and for one wild moment, thought he was looking at Grimmjow. But this elf was a bit shorter, and his hair was cut differently. Instead of Grimmjow's wild hairstyle, his was cut extremely short on the top and almost shaved on the sides and back. The eyes that looked at him were the exact same shade as Grimmjow's, though. "I'm Scargal Jaegerjaquez. But you can call me Scar, kid." Ichigo blinked, his gaze falling to the man's waist and his breath caught in his throat as he saw a familiar black hilt at Scar's waist._

"_You can't be… you're Grimmjow's father?" He asked, shocked. The elf nodded._

"_Yeah." He huffed out a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "You know, this is embarrassing. When I was alive I thought messages from beyond the grave were complete bullshit. I mean, the dead are busy being dead, right?" Ichigo honestly didn't know what to say to that, so he just met green blue eyes. Scar didn't have Grimmjow's accent, but he still sounded like his son. "Now here I am giving one. I'm such a fucking failure, sometimes, I swear."_

"_Why are you giving a message to me? Why not Grimmjow or Feralina?" He asked and Scar laughed, gesturing towards the trees. Ichigo turned his head and felt a jolt of shock as he realized he'd completely missed the dark form standing close by. He was a human man, with pale skin and wild, unkempt brown hair. Ichigo stared at him, surprised that he could have been so close yet not sensed a thing._

"_Why else? You have Zangetsu. He's the only reason I can be here at all." Ichigo's eyes widened as he realized he was looking at the spirit of his sword… the same sword that was still at Scar's hip. Looking back at the elf he saw the man giving him a grin that reminded him irresistibly of Grimmjow. "But we need to get down to business. I can't do this forever. The message is simple, and it sucks. You need to go with Grimmjow when the King calls him to court."_

"_He's going to be called to court?" Ichigo asked, surprised. "I thought he was out of favor." Being called to court was a great honor. Scar sighed, shaking his head at the naivety of the question._

"_Who said he was being called to court for a good reason?" Scar paused for a moment, regarding him thoughtfully. "Your father was dead right, you know. Remember what he said?" Ichigo shook his head. He really couldn't recall. "He said that if Grimm protected you, he'd die too. That it doesn't pay to be a good man in this world. He was dead right, but it won't be you that brings my son down. Just being a good man is enough."_

"_What are you saying?" Ichigo demanded, unable to keep the anxiety out of his voice. "The Dark King is recalling him to punish him?" Scar's laugh was dark and without any real mirth._

"_If he's lucky, but I don't think he'll be lucky this time. Zangetsu doesn't think so either. So you have to go. You could die, I won't lie, but my son's life depends on it. Will you do this for me? For him?" Ichigo met those green blue eyes and nodded instantly. Grimmjow had protected him and trained him for years, and he ruled his people well. He would do anything to protect the elf lord. "Good. Now for the hard part." Ichigo blinked. The hard part? "How to convince that stubborn, protective idiot I spawned to take you to court with him."_

"_Oh!" Ichigo couldn't help but laugh, although Scar was right. Convincing Grimmjow to take him to court would take some doing. "Do you have an idea?"_

"_I do. Tell him I said he's got to do it, then tell him this." Ichigo listened carefully as Scar told him what to say. "If that doesn't work, tell him I'll come back and tell you all about the first time I caught him masturbating."_

"_Please don't!" Ichigo said, horrified. He could remember the one time Yuzu had caught him, and it had been a scarring mental experience. Scar grinned wickedly._

"_We do what we have to do. Now, go to sleep. This kind of thing ain't restful." Ichigo nodded and drifted away as the image of his internal world began to break up. Although, it did make him wonder. He'd never heard his sword speak._

_What would Zangetsu sound like?_

* * *

It was one month before Ichigo's eighteenth birthday, and the spring thaw was just beginning, when the summons came.

"You should stay here with Ichigo, Fera." Ichigo was listening at the door to Grimmjow's study. The rumors were flying thick among the servants, so he had no doubt at all about what was going on.

"The fuck I will!" Feralina sounded furious and her voice was as loud as ever. "I'm going with you, you dumb bastard! He's going to do something to you, I know it, and you'll damn well need me there!" There was a brief pause before Grimmjow spoke again.

"Yeah, he's gonna do something t' me, and you don't need t' see it. Let me go by myself, Fera. It'll be better for Ichigo too. We need t' look after him." Ichigo couldn't stand it anymore and opened the door to the study, meeting two startled pairs of eyes.

"I'm going with you." He said plainly and Grimmjow scowled as Feralina blinked, looking like she thought she'd misheard. "Your father says I have to." It was going to be hard convincing them, no matter what, so there wasn't much point in beating around the bush. They both looked at him in disbelief before Feralina laughed.

"Ichigo, our pappy's been dead for over two hundred years! Spirits don't stick that long. You musta had one hell of a dream." She said merrily and Ichigo scowled at her. Amusement was not the reaction he'd been hoping for. Then Grimmjow's hands were on his shoulders and he looked into the elf lord's face. He looked pained but also resolved.

"She's right, and it don't matter anyway. I'm not takin' you t' the King's court. One flare and you'd be done for. It ain't right, puttin' you in that kinda danger." Grimmjow said quietly but sincerely and Ichigo felt his face harden in stubbornness. He simply could not let the elf win this argument.

"Your father said you would need convincing, so he told me to tell you he always knew you took his butterfly necklace and lost it in the lake." Ichigo said quietly and saw Grimmjow go rigid in shock. "It was made of topaz and aquamarine, held in gold, and you loved it since you were a baby. You wanted to wear it, but it was a long chain and it came off in the water. He never brought it up because he knew you felt so bad, you were diving into the lake all summer, trying to find it."

"H-How… how…" Grimmjow's voice sounded hoarse and Feralina was looking at him like he'd grown a second head. "How'd you know that? I never even told my best friend 'bout that. Still feel bad about it sometimes… how…?" The hands slipped off his shoulders and Ichigo caught them, giving Grimmjow a gentle squeeze as he met shocked blue green eyes.

"I told you, your father knew. And he said to tell you he wishes he'd told you it was okay. He just didn't want to bring it up, since he knew you felt so bad." Ichigo said softly. "Grimmjow, you have to take me. Your father said you'll need me. You protect everyone, it's time for me to protect you this time." He wasn't entirely sure what he would be able to do, but even through the collar he would make a dangerous and competent bodyguard.

"I – I guess you have to, then." Grimmjow sounded faint and Ichigo was glad he wouldn't have to follow up on Scar's other threat. "Feralina –"

"Shut up, you daft bastard!" Feralina barked, coming out of her shock with anger. "You're not leaving me here when you're taking Ichigo! Not a damned chance! So break out the carriage and get our crap together!" Grimmjow huffed, pulling his hands away as he shook his head.

"No respect. I get no respect around here. Fine, you can both come, and I hope you live." That wasn't much of a surrender, but it would do. Ichigo quickly left to go get his things together.

They would be leaving for the court very soon.


	6. Sex and Humiliation

Ichigo winced in pain as he dismounted from his horse, rubbing his thighs in gentle, circular motions. He'd never ridden a horse all day before and had had no idea how taxing it really was. His mare blew into his hair and he smiled, gently patting her on the shoulder. She was tired too, he could tell.

They had been on the road for almost a week. They hadn't exactly made good time, though. The roads were soupy from the spring thaw and the 'carriage' had a bad tendency to get stuck. Grimmjow just didn't have the coin to spare to fix all the roads, and the town mayors were sporadic at maintenance, so things had gotten really bad in spots.

Although what Feralina had called a carriage was actually a covered wagon, not so dissimilar from what a peasant would have used to move houses. Ichigo glanced over at, amused. Right now it was being unpacked and a fire was being lit for supper. Their escort consisted of four foresters and two guards. Not much, but all Grimmjow could take without leaving the manor seriously weakened. None of the foresters were Renji, though. He had requested time off to go visit their mother months ago, and Grimmjow had felt it was better for one of their family to be out of the line of fire. Renji had been relieved, although he had offered to accompany them.

"What's for supper?" He asked Feralina as he began taking care of his horse. She made a small grunting sound as she took the saddle off her stallion.

"Salted pork stew, probably." Feralina sounded annoyed and Ichigo grimaced in sympathy. The stew would be short on the pork and heavy on the salt, as always. And the vegetables would be… well, interesting was the most polite way to put it. It was early spring, and nothing had been grown yet, so they would all be pickled and preserved.

"Ah, you're forgettin' the jerky." Grimmjow said, amused and Fera shot him a scorching look. "Not to mention the travel bread – HEY!" He yelped as Feralina tossed her horse's bridle at him, hitting him on the head. "Watch it, you bitch!"

"Just shut up, I'm sick t'death o' the damn food." She growled, pulling out a curry comb and gently brushing down her horse. "When's the next good inn we're gonna hit?" Ichigo looked at Grimmjow as he pulled a map out of his bags. He was interested in the answer to that question too.

Travelling was just not fun, Ichigo had discovered. It was nice seeing different landscapes, and fascinating to see how the land changed, but in at least half the villages they hit the inns were so bad Feralina and Grimmjow would rather sleep in the woods. After taking a look at one of the rejects, Ichigo had agreed. They really would have fleas if they stayed at those places. Sometimes they could find a nice barn or a friendly peasant to put them up, but most of the time they just camped outside. To his vague annoyance, Grimmjow and Feraline seemed to enjoy sleeping outside in the air. But then, they were elves. Living indoors all the time was probably a bit unnatural for them.

The other not very fun thing about travelling was the food. Everything was salted, smoked and preserved. Travel bread was heavy, hard stuff that didn't go moldy easily, but it was about as fun to eat as sawdust. No one enjoyed that part of it.

"The inns should start gettin' better in a day or two, when we hit the main trade routes." Ichigo nodded as Grimmjow glanced over at the wagon. "We'll start makin' better time, too. Damned thing. Wish I had a dozen mules instead." Ichigo glanced over at the mud splattered vehicle, and saw the guards were taking care of the horses pulling it. They were easily as muddy as the carriage, and clearly tired, but not exhausted. Grimmjow and Feralina had kept all the horses fit during the winter months.

When the camp chores were done, the stew was ready. Ichigo ate it without comment, and smiled as Feralina threw a bit of the trail bread at her brother, who caught it and ate it. He loved watching them together. Brother and sister, exactly as they always should be.

The one really annoying thing about the tents was the size of them. The foresters and one of the guards shared the one tent, and the other held himself, Feralina, Grimmjow and the last guard. There was no privacy at all but Ichigo still got to watch as Grimmjow pulled off his clothes and slipped into a nightshift. His teenage body wanted nothing more than to break his father's rules and sleep with the handsome elf, but he couldn't. Not with everyone watching. Fortunately the tent was dark enough that no one noticed his arousal as he changed.

This was going to be a very long trip.

* * *

"An inn! Fucking finally!" Feralina was overjoyed and Ichigo felt pretty happy, as well. It was a really nice inn, too, situated right beside a river and clearly catering to the river traffic. Unfortunately, there was one fly in the ointment.

"Whose fucking carriage is that?" Grimmjow growled and the two of them looked away from the inn, finally noticing the thing. Ichigo's eyes widened as he took in all the scroll work and gilding, as well as the exceedingly pink paint. He'd never seen anything like it in his life.

"Oh fucking god." Feralina lowered her head as Grimmjow swore. "I recognize that thing. Should we just ride on by?"

"I think – nevermind." An elf had stepped out of the inn and was waving them down. "Too late." Grimmjow said under his breath, reining in his horse. "Szayel, it's been a while." They all dismounted and Ichigo stayed beside Grimmjow, using his position as a 'concubine' as an excuse to look over the new elf.

This was actually the first elf he'd seen besides Feralina and Grimmjow, and Ichigo was fascinated by the differences. Szayel was almost a stereotypical elf. Delicate and ethereal described him very well, although the pretty pink hair was still very unusual. So were the glasses he wore. Ichigo hadn't been aware that elves could have problems with their eyesight, but it seemed they could, unless he was just wearing them for fashion.

"Grimmjow! It's so delightful to see you again!" Szayel seemed genuinely delighted as he gave Grimmjow a rather vapid smile. Then he turned his attentions to a sullen elven maiden. "And the lovely Feralina! Oh my dear, please tell me you've stopped picking your nose in public. That was just _so_ uncouth." Ichigo blinked. He'd seen plenty of uncouth behaviour out of Feralina, but never any nose picking. She just scowled at Szayel. "And who is this?" Szayel suddenly seemed to notice him and Ichigo found his intelligent, golden gaze rather alarming. "My word, a slave? And a concubine? Grimmjow, I didn't know you had it in you!"

"His old master was abusin' him, so I took him in. He'll be a ranger soon." Grimmjow said briskly and Ichigo nodded slightly. Szayel looked slightly disappointed but also interested.

"Well, I do hope you haven't done anything ridiculous like leaving him completely untouched. That would be too much, even from you!" Szayel tittered and Ichigo began to get an idea of why Grimmjow and Feralina weren't fond of him. Sure, he was theoretically a concubine, but most people didn't… snigger over it. He saw the muscles ripple in Grimmjow's jaw, and knew the elf was trying hard to keep his temper. "Come, join me for supper. I have some really lovely wine, share a glass with me Fera darling."

"Yeah, why not." Feralina agreed, to Ichigo's surprise. He wondered if he was missing something as he followed the elves inside. They clearly didn't want to be around this man, so why were they agreeing so quickly?

"Well, my dears, I'm sure you've realized I didn't meet you at this grubby inn just by chance!" Ichigo glanced around, shocked that anyone would call this place 'grubby'. To his eyes, it was immaculate. Grimmjow just grunted and Szayel smiled winningly. "Now, Grimmjow, don't be such a sour pickle!" Ichigo had to choke back a laugh at that and then blinked as Szayel poured them all some wine, even him. He'd thought the elf would ignore his presence. Then he frowned as he felt the tiniest bit of talent use from Grimmjow and Feralina, before they drank. What were they doing? "You'll be travelling with me the rest of the way. The King wants to make sure you don't get lost, tee hee." Ichigo frowned as he began to get a better grip on what was going on. Szayel was not out of favor with the Dark King, not in the least, and he likely outranked Grimmjow. His lord had no choice but to obey.

"Well, I'm not going in that damn carriage. You get t' do it, Grimmy." Feralina said, sitting up in her chair so she could scratch her ass. Szayel watched with a pained expression and shook his head.

"I wasn't inviting you, dear. That horrible laugh of yours!" He shuddered dramatically as Feralina glared. "But Grimmjow, love, bring your pretty boy with us. I'd love to see more of him." Ichigo met those golden eyes again and swallowed hard, looking down. If Szayel had just been the court butterfly he appeared to be, he wouldn't have been worried, but the mind behind those eyes was sharp. He'd never been gladder to have the retaining collar.

The rest of the meal was a bit strained, with Szayel doing his best to draw the two elves out, with limited success. Grimmjow at least pretended to be friendly, answering questions and making some small talk, but Feralina didn't bother. Her attitude reminded Ichigo of a sullen child, wanting to get away from the adult's table. But he wondered how much of it was genuine and how much of it was a tactic to get Szayel to ignore her.

Finally, supper was over and they went to their rooms. Not to his surprise, Ichigo found that he and Grimmjow were sharing a room. Szayel certainly would have questioned it if Grimmjow had paid for a second room for his concubine, and he couldn't really afford it anyway. Ichigo honestly wasn't expecting anything to happen though.

But when they were alone, something odd happened. Grimmjow paused as he was changing, and scowled at the door. Ichigo just ignored him, stripping off his shirt and starting on his pants. Then he blinked as warm arms enfolded him from behind.

"Ichigo." He shivered at the tone of Grimmjow's voice. He'd dreamed of hearing the elven lord say his name that way. Warm lips caressed his throat and Ichigo tilted his head, letting out a breathy moan as he savored the feeling. "I love you, y'know." Grimmjow whispered in his ear and Ichigo smiled in pure pleasure, turning around so he could look into those beautiful blue eyes.

"I love you too Grimmjow." It felt so good to finally voice his feelings. He didn't know why they'd picked here and now, but it was only a few weeks until his birthday. Surely even Isshin couldn't disapprove too much. Grimmjow smiled, sliding a hand behind his head and pulling him in for a deep, intimate kiss. It was also his first kiss and Ichigo savored it, feeling like his whole body was catching fire. He'd been waiting for this for so long.

Grimmjow's hands gripped the top of his pants and Ichigo's breath caught in his throat as the elf slid down the fabric. He pressed himself against the elven lord, feeling every inch of his body as Grimmjow massaged his rump, gently squeezing the firm flesh. He felt light headed as the blue haired man gently tugged him towards the bed.

"So nice." Grimmjow murmured in his ear as they both lay on the covers. The words were followed by another kiss, as intense and full of desire as the first. Ichigo already felt like he was losing his mind, just from those touches. Grimmjow slowly rubbed his body against him, a long, luxurious motion that pulled a soft groan from his lips. "Damn." Grimmjow's voice was heavy with desire and Ichigo met his eyes for a moment, shivering at the look in those blue orbs. Then Grimmjow lowered his head and Ichigo gasped as a warm, agile tongue found one of his nipples, gently teasing the nub of flesh.

"Grimmjow." Ichigo's fingers tangled in blue hair as the elf switched his attention to the other side, gently biting then soothing the heated skin with his tongue. "Grimmjow!" The heat between them was almost unbearable, and he wanted more. So much more, but Grimmjow was taking his time, exploring every inch of his skin with gentle nips and licks.

"Calm down, Ichi. Don't want this t'end too soon." He whispered and Ichigo couldn't help but whine, bucking up against the warm body over him. "Damn kid." But the tone was affectionate and Ichigo slapped the elven lord on the shoulder. "Hey!"

"Stop teasing me. You're just being a bastard." He whispered back and was satisfied to see Grimmjow grin.

"Y'think that's teasin', you ain't seen nothin' yet." Grimmjow replied and Ichigo blinked as he slid down, then gasped as the elven lord explored his navel, lapping at the soft skin and savoring the hard muscles beneath. Desire was pooling in his loins and Ichigo wondered if Grimmjow was trying to make him come without even touching him. He really might, if he kept doing things like that. Ichigo had no illusions about his control.

Then a warm, callused hand slid around his base, holding him tightly as hot heat enveloped him. A cry was torn from his throat as Grimmjow lashed him with his tongue, sucking on him hungrily. He'd never imagined anything like it, and Ichigo closed his eyes as the sensations became almost overwhelming.

"Nnn, Grimmjow! Ah!" He arched up, the need to come almost overwhelming, but Grimmjow's hand was holding back his release. "Ngh! P-Please!" He didn't know what he was begging the elf for, not really. Did he want Grimmjow to let him release? But then it would be over, and he didn't want that. This was too good to have it end so quickly. Grimmjow pulled back, breathing heavily, his hand still on the base of Ichigo's erection.

"I told ya, calm down Ichigo. We have a lot of ground to cover." He said with a grin as Ichigo's breathing evened out. "That's better." Then he dove back in, but this time Grimmjow devoted his attention to the teen's sac. Long, firm strokes of his tongue on that tender flesh soon had Ichigo keening in pleasure and thrusting up eagerly into the elf's hands.

"You're… a fucking… sadist…" Ichigo gasped out as Grimmjow continued in his blissful torment. "Bastard!" He groaned as Grimmjow bit the inside of his thigh, just enough to stimulate but not hurt. "Oh stars… Grimmjow…" Ichigo took a deep breath, struggling to stay sane as the elven lord began to gently probe his entrance. That felt strange, but… not really too strange. Ichigo had experimented on his own, imagining this day.

"Need some stuff. Hang on a sec." Grimmjow muttered and Ichigo groaned in disappointment as the elf slid off the bed. "Knew I had it. You're gonna like this." Ichigo blinked as Grimmjow slathered a strange cream onto his hands, then gently touched him again. This time there was a warm tingle that became more pronounced as the elf inserted a finger, exploring him from the inside out.

"Nnn… what is that?" He gasped, feeling the tingling intensify. It was making his loins tighten and his mind go blank. He'd never imagined that anything could feel this good. Then Grimmjow added a second finger. "Ah!" He jerked as the elf found his prostate, gently massaging him from within. "G-Grimmjow, stop, I really might… ah…!" He struggled not to come right then, whimpering as tiny pearls formed at the end of his straining member. Grimmjow laughed softly, but desisted in teasing that spot, just using his fingers to gently stretch him.

"Let me know if this hurts." Grimmjow said as he spread more of that cream on his own cock, before lining himself up with Ichigo's entrance. The teen nodded, then gasped as the elf began to ease himself inside. It did hurt, a little, but he'd been expecting it. Grimmjow waited until Ichigo met his eyes, then began to slowly take him, letting him adjust to every thrust. Soon, though, the slow pace became maddening. Ichigo whimpered as Grimmjow brushed his prostate, finger's digging into the elf's shoulders as he kept to that slow, torturous pace. The friction on his cock, rubbing against his belly, was wonderful but not enough.

"Grimmjow, please! F-Faster!" Ichigo's begged shamelessly and felt Grimmjow pause for a moment before speeding up. He gasped as the elf hit his prostate dead on, a bit of pre-cum splattering on his belly.

"Stars, Ichigo, you're so fucking beautiful." Grimmjow said warmly, blue eyes full of fire. Ichigo could tell the elf lord was losing control, pounding into him harder and harder. Then Grimmjow's hand was on his cock, stroking him with more of that wonderful cream and Ichigo keened out his pleasure, struggling not to scream at the wonderful combination of sensations. Nothing in the world could feel better than this. Nothing.

There was a heavenly moment where everything came together, when musk and pleasure and blue eyes tipped over into something that went beyond pleasure. Ichigo could hear Grimmjow's curse and a sudden dampening field snapping into place around him, as well as the flare of his own spiritual talent, but he didn't care. He was beyond caring about anything except the wonderful man he loved, and the amazing things they were doing together. He arched as his body climaxed, and his heart went with it, his power flowing into Grimmjow in a rush of golden fire. The elf cried out, his body reaching completion as a splash of blue fire flowed back, filling Ichigo with coolness, the musky smell of big cat and the taste of mint. Ichigo took in the power without thought, savoring the feel of it. To his dazzled mind, it was the very essence of Grimmjow.

They lay together, breathless and stunned, for a long moment. Then Grimmjow collapsed against him, his head buried against Ichigo's neck. Ichigo sighed in pleasure as the elf kissed his throat slowly, lingering on the edge of the retaining collar.

"You're fucking amazing, Ichigo. But I'll need t' put up a field when we get t' the palace. Y'nearly shorted out yer collar." He said and Ichigo blinked as he realized his collar was uncomfortably warm. "But a lotta people do that for privacy, so shouldn't be a problem. Damn. I haven't had sex that good in a thousand years."

"Mmm." Ichigo nuzzled Grimmjow's cheek, feeling very flattered and also very tired. "I don't have anything to compare it to, but it was amazing. So amazing." He couldn't imagine that it could get any better than that. Then he moaned softly as Grimmjow slid out of him, leaving him feeling oddly empty and bereft. But the elf lay down beside him, and Ichigo nestled into his arms, warm and protected.

"Sure was." Grimmjow whispered, nuzzling his cheek. "Go t' sleep, Ichi. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day." Ichigo nodded and closed his eyes, letting his weariness overtake him. But just before sleep claimed him, he heard a whisper. "I love you, you crazy kid."

That warmed him down to his toes, and Ichigo fell to sleep with a smile.

* * *

Grimmjow woke the next morning feeling warm and pleasantly sated. He pushed himself up on one elbow, looking down at the sleeping face of his new lover.

He hadn't mentioned it to Ichigo, since it would have spoiled the mood, but someone had been listening at the door. Elves in general had good hearing and he and Feralina had better than most elves could claim. So he'd easily sensed the clumsy human trying to spy on them. If it had just been some lout, he'd have opened the door and told them off, but he was sure it was one of Szayel's servants, spying on his orders.

So the only thing to do had been to take Ichigo sexually. Not that he minded. Now that it was done, he was almost grateful to Szayel for being a perverted busybody. Waiting had already been torture, and the sex had been absolutely mind blowing. And what had happened at the end, well, that had been beyond almost anything he'd felt in his life.

Almost anything. Grimmjow shivered as he remembered one particular past lover. Over a thousand years ago, he'd been travelling the world and selling his sword on random adventures. He'd met a girl, stiff with talent like Ichigo and half-crazed with uncontrolled power. He'd taken her in and trained her, and in return she'd given him some of the best sex in his life. Her power had always spilled into his at the end of lovemaking, and his into her. It was a sign of a deep, emotional connection and incredible trust. She'd died too young, and he'd always mourned her. He'd never thought he would encounter such a thing again.

But now he had. Ichigo was very different in personality, and Grimmjow loved him even more than he had that wildcat girl. So maybe it was no surprise they were bonding the same way, their powers merging. Grimmjow knew where that could eventually lead but didn't care. He'd burn that bridge when he came to it, if they both lived that long. He knew better than to assume he would outlive Ichigo. That might not be true at all, not now.

"Mmm, Grimmjow?" Ichigo blinked sleepily, smiling up at him. Grimmjow grinned and gave the teen a thorough kiss. Strong arms slipped around him and he really wanted nothing more than another round of sex. But a wary alertness told him that wasn't a good idea. Szayel was an early riser, and Grimmjow really could not afford to piss off one of the Dark King's pets.

"Damn, Ichigo. I want to take you right now, or let you take me." That thought had a huge appeal, and he smiled as he saw Ichigo's breath catch at the thought. "But that damned pink bastard is probably waiting for us downstairs right now, and we can't keep him waiting." He couldn't keep the grimness out of his tone and Ichigo frowned as he pulled away, sitting up and sweeping the blankets aside.

"Grimmjow? He doesn't feel more powerful than you. In fact, he feels a lot less." Ichigo said very quietly as they both began to dress. Grimmjow nodded, unsurprised that Ichigo could tell that. Szayel was barely a thousand years old, very much his junior. And while age was not the only thing that made an elf strong, it was a good indicator. "Does he outrank you?"

"Yeah. He's a baron, I'm just a lordling." He said shortly. That was the best way to explain it to Ichigo, although the Dark King's favor also had a huge weight. Ichigo winced and nodded, pulling on his shirt. It was old and heavily darned and Grimmjow hesitated a moment before making a decision. "Here, wear one of my shirts." He pulled out one of his oldest shirts, fine black elven silk. It had belonged to his father and was one of the few to survive everything. "We need to keep up appearances in front of that bastard." He added, regretting that he hadn't gotten Ichigo more new clothing. But money was always tight, and the things the teen had were perfectly fine… at home. He would have to buy some new things once they reached the palace. Ichigo blinked at the fine fabric, then nodded.

"If you're sure I should." He didn't sound too enthusiastic and Grimmjow gave him a questioning look. "Just afraid I'll spill something on it. It's beautiful, Grimmjow. Are those crystals?" Grimmjow looked at the shirt, really seeing it for the first time in years. There were tiny crystals embroidered on the pockets.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it, Ichigo, it's protected with magic. My pappy owned it, before I was even born." He reassured the boy, who looked relieved and stripped away his shirt, putting on the black one. It was a touch too big, but still looked better. Grimmjow glanced at himself in the mirror, sizing up his own clothing. It wasn't elven silk, but it was fairly new and bright blue. Deciding it would do, he led them both down to breakfast.

As it turned out, he was dead right about Szayel. The pink elf was already there, sipping on wine and trying to charm a downright sullen Feralina. Grimmjow vaguely wondered if Szayel was really attracted to his sister. It was a stomach churning thought, not because he thought the pink haired elf would abuse her, but because he couldn't imagine having him as a brother in law. And what in hell would the children be like? That thought was actually rather entertaining, and Grimmjow smiled as he took a seat at the table.

"Grimmjow! I'm told you had a wonderful night. Such a wonderful display of power!" Szayel bubbled and Grimmjow maintained his smile with an effort. Fortunately, Ichigo's collar and the shield he'd put up had adequately masked the teen's power. His own, though, had probably shone like a star to Szayel's senses.

"Sorry 'bout that. I'll be more careful in the future." He said easily, checking his food for poisons and potions before biting into the eggs. He noticed Feralina had already cleaned her plate and wondered how long the two of them had been down. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"Oh no, it's quite alright! My men are still eating, or I would have woken you." Szayel said, brushing away the concern. "But do hurry, we don't want to keep the King waiting." Grimmjow grimaced at the honest concern and almost fear in the other elf's eyes. As little as he liked the pink haired bastard, and despite the rot he could sense in his aura, he knew Szayel's concern was genuine.

He hurried through breakfast, but made sure the cooks packed up some extra buns and a bit of leftover beef for Ichigo. The teen still had quite an appetite, although it was beginning to tail off his he reached his full growth. Feralina abandoned them as soon as they got outside, going to her horse, and Grimmjow found himself trapped with Szayel in the carriage.

The only good thing about it was that Ichigo was there. But Grimmjow began to feel a strange uneasiness as Szayel glanced at the redhead and smirked. That uneasiness turned into worry as Ichigo leaned against him, resting his cheek on his shoulder.

"Ichigo?" He said softly, looking down at the teen. His face was completely relaxed and sleepy. Fear made his skin prickle as he looked into his lover's face. This wasn't right. "Ichi?" The teen nuzzled him, flickers of desire passing over his face. "Shit." He breathed, realizing that while he'd tested his own food for potions, he hadn't tested Ichigo's. He turned his head to glare at Szayel. "What the fuck have you done to him?" He twitched as Ichigo rested a hand on his thigh, tracing circles on his skin through the fabric of his pants. Szayel just smirked wider.

"Oh, nothing much! Just a harmless little concoction." He tittered a laugh and not for the first time, Grimmjow longed to kill him. He could hear the growl from his spirit sword that indicated Pantera would enjoy feasting on his blood. "I thought a bit of a show would be nice for the road, and your poor concubine will need release now. You wouldn't deny him, would you Grimmjow?" Szayel examined his nails for a moment before looking up, golden eyes full of mischief and malice. "Although I could do it for you." That made him want to spit in Szayel's face, and Pantera's growl turned into a yowl of fury. Grimmjow rested a hand on the hilt of his sword, his knuckles going white before he released it. He couldn't do what he wanted and keep his own head, but it was so damned tempting.

"Tell me what this potion does." He said hoarsely as Ichigo made a strange whining sound. It wasn't just passion and desire, there was pain in it. The redhead was rubbing against him now and Grimmjow could feel his arousal against his side.

"Well, he's aroused, as you can see. He needs release or the arousal will turn into pain, gradually increasing to agony." Szayel grinned, highly amused by the situation he'd put the two of them in. "He can't just masturbate, either! It has to be someone else. So will you help him, or will I?" Grimmjow's skin crawled at the look Szayel gave Ichigo. Growling, he knelt down on the floor of the carriage and pulled down Ichigo's pants, doing his best to block Szayel's view with his body.

It was beyond humiliating to blow Ichigo off with Szayel watching, but every other option was worse. He would not going to penetrate Ichigo with that asshole watching, not a fucking chance. And he couldn't leave Ichigo to suffer. Grimmjow was grimly certain that Szayel was telling the truth about the potion. It was exactly the sort of thing the pink haired bastard would come up with. So he devoted himself to trying to make Ichigo come as quickly as possible.

It took a while, but as it went on and on, he realized there was something else wrong. Ichigo was gasping and gripping his hair, urging him on, but the teen just couldn't seem to release. Grimmjow could hear Szayel tittering behind him and he lifted his head for a moment, making Ichigo whimper at the loss of his mouth.

"What the fuck is this?" He demanded and Szayel giggled again.

"Oh, didn't I mention that the potion makes it very difficult for him to get off? You'd have better luck if you really fucked him, Grimmjow darling. And it would be a better show for me!" Grimmjow took a deep breath, fury and humiliation burning in his soul. Ichigo was gripping his shoulders now and the sounds he was making were pained and desperate. Turning back, Grimmjow went down on the teen again. Reaching behind him, he slid a single finger inside him and tried to add that stimulation to what he was doing.

Even that only helped a bit. His jaw was feeling sore and his knees were screaming at him for relief when the teen finally came with a moan. Grimmjow swallowed his seed, not pulling away until Ichigo was done, and then pulled up his pants to keep Szayel from getting more than a glimpse of his naked lover. To his relief, Ichigo's spirit power hadn't flared at all with his climax. In fact, it felt almost dead right now, probably a side effect of the potion. Pushing himself to his feet, he gave Szayel a hard stare before taking a seat beside Ichigo. The teen burrowed into his side and Grimmjow put an arm around him, holding Szayel's amused and slightly aroused gaze.

"You know, I thought I would get a better show than that. But I must say, seeing you humble yourself was actually rather beautiful. I would love to see you kneeling in front of me someday." Grimmjow did his best not to react to that thought. It was utterly nauseating and an offense to his pride. "I can't wait to see what the King says when I tell him all about it!" Grimmjow swallowed his sickness at the thought and just tried to concentrate on taking care of Ichigo.

This was going to be a very long trip.


	7. Fate Denied

"Wow." Grimmjow couldn't help but grin as Ichigo stuck his head out the carriage window. "I just… wow. Grimmjow, how big is it?" Szayel was smiling benignly, amused by the teen's awe.

"We won't reach it 'til sundown, so really fuckin' big." Grimmjow said, highly entertained by Ichigo's reactions. Thankfully, Szayel's potion had left Ichigo with no memory of that day, and Grimmjow had made sure it wouldn't happen again. He checked the teen's food thoroughly now. "Humans an' elves built it together. Nice eh?"

"Oooo." Ichigo murmured and Szayel actually poked his head through the other window, taking a look. Grimmjow wasn't even tempted to join them. He was older, and he'd seen it all before plenty of times.

They were coming up on the Zaratur. That was the name of the castle that served as the Royal seat, and it was remarkable. Built into the living stone of a massive escarpment, it towered over the land and commanded the respect and awe of everyone who viewed it for the first time. Grimmjow still remembered the first time he'd seen it. He'd been with his pappy, going for the funeral of a distant cousin who'd died in the King's service. It had been an amazing moment and Ichigo's wide eyed stare brought him back.

But he couldn't enjoy the teen's reactions fully, not now. It wasn't the old King and his court they were going to see, it was the Dark King, and that was an entirely different kettle of fish. No Royal court was ever safe, but when the King fed on pain and misery, things could get very unsafe indeed.

Then Ichigo sat back in his seat and Grimmjow caught the preoccupied, almost scared expression on the boy's face. He reached over to take his hand, giving him a gentle squeeze. He knew what Ichigo had picked up. He could sense the evil already, the miasma that would only grow more intense the closer they got to the Zaratur. Ichigo wasn't good at power sensing, but he didn't need to be for this. The darkness would try to stain his soul.

Grimmjow wanted to take Ichigo in his arms, cuddle him close and tell him it would be alright. But he couldn't allow that weakness in front of Szayel, and besides, it would be a lie. He wasn't sure anything was going to be alright, now that they were within the King's reach.

He would just have to see.

* * *

"Wow." Ichigo murmured to himself as he looked at the elven court.

He hadn't expected to be joining Grimmjow and Feralina at court, but apparently, it was expected for a concubine to attend to his lord at things like this. Perhaps a quarter of the people in the room were human, and most were concubines or servants. He was wearing one of Grimmjow's formal sets, dark green elven silks that actually went very well with his hair. So, for the first time, he was getting to see the full glory of the Royal court.

And it was glorious. The walls of the great ballroom were a work of art. Gilded and inlaid with semi-precious stones, they formed lovely mosaics that depicted the beauties of nature. Ichigo thought he detected elven work in some of them, but only some. Most of it had been done by human hands. The ceiling of the room was, if anything, more impressive. Ichigo glanced up, admiring the incredible geometric designs. There was more gilding there, of course, as well as sky blue paint work.

But as beautiful as the surroundings were, they didn't hold a candle to the elves. Ichigo could have spent an entire day just people watching. Few of the elves were as dangerous and exotic as Grimmjow and Feralina, but they were still remarkable. Ichigo had to struggle to avoid staring at a few of them. One who really caught his attention was a young elf with long black hair and the most elegant features he'd ever seen on anyone. Then he blinked as he realized that man was coming towards them. There was an elven woman beside him and Ichigo's breath caught as he looked at her. Her expression was mild and she wore a serene smile, but he could still see a vague hint of Feralina and Renji in the shape of her face. It was harder to see Grimmjow, but that was only because he took after his father so thoroughly.

"Byakuya, I didn't think t' see you here." Grimmjow said gracefully, offering his father in law a hand. Byakuya took it with a small smile, giving him a quick hand clasp. Then Grimmjow embraced his mother, patting her long, purplish braid of hair. "Mamma, y'should have said you was comin'. Renji went off t' see you." He said with a bit of reproach, and Ichigo watched as his mother laughed.

"We didn't know we were coming. It was a very… abrupt summons. I will have to make special time for Renji when I get back." She said and then smiled at Ichigo. Her expression was kindly and he felt a deep sense of peace as he met her sea green eyes. "Hello. My son doesn't take lovers casually, so you must be dear to him. I'm sorry, but I don't know your name." She offered him a hand and Ichigo took it, brushing a kiss on her knuckles the way Grimmjow had taught him. He knew, vaguely, that the woman he was looking at was much older than Grimmjow but it was hard to keep in mind. She felt far less powerful than her son, and she reminded him almost irresistibly of Orihime.

"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. I'm sorry, but I don't know your name either… unless you don't mind me calling you mamma." He said with a smile, certain she wouldn't take offense. He was right about that, and she laughed, a sweet, liquid sound. Ichigo was enchanted and vaguely wondered how she'd managed to spawn someone like Feralina. Speaking of which…

"Mamma!" They both winced at the piercing shriek. It drew the attention of half the ballroom, and then Feralina was hugging her mother. "It's been forever! Hey, you have a baby bump!" Ichigo blinked, looking down and seeing that Feralina was correct. Her mother was clearly pregnant, although early on in the process. "That's… great!" Feralina said with slightly forced happiness, and her mother gently patted her on the shoulder.

"It is, isn't it?" The elven lady said with a smile before turning her attention back to Ichigo for a moment. "I'm Lady Garana. But you can call me mamma, if you wish." Ichigo blushed as Feralina laughed. Fortunately, it wasn't her hyena in heat laugh. Ichigo glanced over at Grimmjow and saw he was deep in a quiet conversation with Byakuya, leaving them to their own devices.

Then Ichigo shivered, sidling closer to Feralina as the aura in the room changed. He'd been managing to adapt to the miasma of evil that hung over the Zaratur, but this was no miasma. Dark power swept through the room and he held his aura tightly closed, letting the retaining collar protect him from the oppressive darkness. That was something he hadn't known, until Grimmjow had told him… the retaining collar did more than keep his own power under control. It also kept malign influences out. Right now, that was extremely welcome. There was a silence from the elves, then the conversations started again, more brittle and self-aware as the Dark King took his throne.

"Don't look into his eyes." Ichigo nodded at Garana's almost inaudible whisper. He had no intention of looking at the Dark King at all, if he could help it. Although what little he'd seen was surprisingly normal. He looked like a rather handsome, human man with carefully styled brown hair.

Unfortunately, they were not going to be able to avoid the Dark King for long. Ichigo wasn't certain of the signals involved, but ever so often an elf would stand in front of the throne and engage the King in conversation for a moment. Ichigo listened to Feralina and Garana quietly conversing, and then looked over as Grimmjow gently touched his shoulder.

"Follow behind me an' don't say nothin' if you can help it." He said quietly and Ichigo nodded, then swallowed as the elf made his way towards the throne. He could see the tension in Grimmjow's back and knew this was the last thing he wanted to do. But he followed obediently, bowing just a heartbeat behind Grimmjow as the elven lord reached the throne. "Your Majesty. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, come t' court as ordered." Grimmjow said and Ichigo winced to himself. Even with those few words, you could have cut Grimmjow's accent with a knife. He kept his gaze on the floor as the Dark King spoke.

"It's been too long since I last saw you, Grimmjow." The warmth in the King's voice was a surprise to Ichigo, and he would have been happier if he thought it meant anything. Unfortunately, the aura of evil was more oppressive than ever. "And your concubine. Intriguing. Look at me, boy." Ichigo froze for a moment before lifting his gaze, struggling not to meet the man's eyes while still obeying the command. He failed, and met the Dark King's gaze for just a moment. His breath froze in his chest and he fought back panic as he met eyes that were pinpricks of purple light in the middle of pure darkness. Then he tore his gaze away, shivering uncontrollably in revulsion. "Quite an innocent, Grimmjow." Ichigo kept his gaze on the Dark King's clothing, not quite daring to look away. He could feel Grimmjow's tension beside him. "Very… pure." That did not sound like a compliment and Ichigo's fear went up a notch as he prayed the retaining collar was at least concealing his talent. He was doing his best to help, keeping it under control with all his willpower. "I'll expect you to meet me for supper tomorrow, Grimmjow." That was a clear dismissal and Grimmjow bowed, before taking Ichigo's elbow and pulling him back into the crowd.

"That coulda gone worse." Grimmjow breathed in his ear and Ichigo swallowed.

"Really?" He whispered and felt a bit of relief as Grimmjow gave him a crooked grin.

"Yeah, really. You could be dead. C'mon, let's eat." Ichigo blinked, wondering if he'd be able to eat at all now. But he followed Grimmjow's lead and took some pastries from a human slave. He waited for Grimmjow's flicker of talent before biting into the flakey crust. It was delicious, and the taste vaguely reminded him of liver. But this was silky smooth and far more subtle than chicken or venison liver.

His teenage appetite kicked in then, and Ichigo found it easy to eat, despite the itchy feeling between his shoulder blades. He listened as Grimmjow talked quietly with several other elves, including an amazing looking woman wearing a dress made out of silver plaques laid over silk. He wondered if it could function as armor, and suspected it could.

Dessert was remarkable, and Ichigo got to try some strange and exotic fruits. He'd had strawberries, blueberries, apples and raspberries but that was about it. For the first time, he tried pear compote over cheese and a candied mango. But then he glanced towards the throne, and shivered to himself.

The food at the palace might be excellent, but it was definitely not worth the cost.

* * *

The next day.

Grimmjow took a deep breath, pausing to look at himself in a mirror for a moment. There were plenty of mirrors in the palace.

He was perfectly turned out. The white clothing was ancient, and had belonged to his father. The enchantments on it ensured it would never take any stain or collect any dust, but Grimmjow was careful not to test them too much. This was formal clothing, not meant for any hardship. It was old fashioned, but that couldn't be helped. At least the fabric was rich, delicately threaded with gossamer spider silk. It lent the clothing an almost iridescent look.

His jewelry was perfect, too. All family heirlooms, of course, and only semi-precious stones and silver. But silver suited him and the slim, silver diadem set with turquoise was very flattering. So were the slender silver necklace and the silver heart locket he was wearing. They had belonged to his father, and there was a picture of his mother in the locket.

_Stop lolly-gaggin'. Bein' late won't help a damn thing._ Grimmjow took a deep breath, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword for a moment. It wouldn't do a damn bit of good, but he still took comfort in the feel of Pantera. Swallowing his fears, Grimmjow walked to the audience room.

It was a private audience, and his stomach clenched as he saw the food set out. A private, intimate dinner, and there was no way for him to avoid it. Forcing a smile to his lips, he took a seat across from the Dark King. He avoided the man's purple, inhuman eyes, fixing his gaze on his cheeks. He simply couldn't look into those orbs for long, but then, no one could. Not even the most corrupted elves could stand them for long.

"You do me too much honor, Your Majesty." He actually managed to sound humble, but it was hard. The Dark King laughed, and Grimmjow noticed he was also wearing white. His clothing was every bit as fine as the ancient elven silks he was wearing, and just as simple. As if he'd anticipated what Grimmjow would wear. _Well, I only have like four formal sets, and this is the best one. He probably did._

"Not at all. You are my most capable of vassals." He said, his voice warm and caressing. The elf across from him swallowed, understanding the double edged nature of that compliment. Capable was not necessarily what the Dark King wanted, and loyalty hadn't been mentioned at all. "Please, eat." The Dark King gestured and the harpist in the corner began to play. Grimmjow sneaked a glance at her and noticed she was a slave, wearing a collar much smaller than the one Ichigo wore. But it was gold, studded in diamonds, and he doubted it was filled with iron like the retaining collar. How many people could that little bauble feed?

_As if he'd care about that._ Grimmjow grimly applied himself to the food. It was very good, and as far as he could tell it wasn't poisoned or tampered with in any way. _No wait, he does care. He wants as many people to starve as he can get._ He distracted himself from that horrible and completely accurate thought by breaking open his bread and buttering it. He absolutely loathed the creature across from him, but he couldn't show it for a moment.

"Tell me, Grimmjow. I get reports, of course, but papers are so dry. How have things been going on your estates?" The Dark King asked and his tone was warm and kindly. If you could ignore the eyes, he might pass as a nice uncle. But one look into those eyes and everyone knew better.

"Not too bad, Your Majesty. We've worked hard t' keep things t'gether." Grimmjow couldn't help the accent, although he dearly wished he could. He had a horrible feeling the Dark King liked his guttersnip way of talking. "S'hard, though. The people are hungry." Hungry, but not starving. He hoped the Dark King would content himself with that. He very briefly met purple eyes before dropping his own to his food again, feeling his soul shudder in revulsion at that brief contact.

"Yes, you do always work so hard to avoid placing any burdens on your people." The Dark King said with a smile. As far as compliments went, that was even worse than the earlier one. Grimmjow entertained himself with the brief vision of throwing a roll in the bastard's face.

The rest of the meal didn't go much better, with small talk that went places Grimmjow would much rather have never touched. And the aura of evil surrounding him was almost physically painful, making it difficult to eat. He could feel that dreadful power pressing on him, caressing him, trying anything it could to get him to open his aura and accept it into himself. Grimmjow was afraid to let up his guard for even the slightest moment. It only took a brush to let that thing in, and then he would be feeling violated for days until he could get rid of the taint.

"Grimmjow, I think we should discuss why I really invited you here." The Dark King finally said, and Grimmjow desperately wished he wouldn't. This was a place he absolutely did not want to go. "I've really been quite patient with you. We both know you're the eldest and most powerful surviving ranger." Grimmjow met purple eyes for a moment before glancing down, unable to think of a thing to say. "So I will be blunt. Either you accept my power into your soul, and join me in my bed tonight, or you will have to die. Which will it be?"

"I would rather die than have anything of you inside me." Grimmjow responded instantly, without even a moment of thought. Although even if he had agonized about it for days, it wouldn't have mattered. His body, he could defile, but not his soul. That was a line that could not be crossed.

The blow came so fast and powerfully that he hardly felt the pain as he was knocked out his chair. Blood flew from his mouth in little droplets and he heard the harpist cry out softly as he lay on the floor, gasping for breath. His whole face felt numb from the open handed slap, and something wet slid down his cheek. Then a hand gripped him by the back of his neck, lifting him up. Grimmjow couldn't resist as a black collar was snapped into place around his neck. The dark force in the room was choking now, pinning him in place as easily as if he were nothing but a helpless kitten.

"The execution will be at noon, tomorrow. Go." The Dark King ordered. Grimmjow swallowed, hard, as he was shoved towards the door. But he paused in the doorway and glanced back, letting his hatred show. There was no point in pretending now.

"Yes, Your Majesty." His tone made the words a curse and he stepped out before the Dark King could react. Although he would probably only laugh.

He fed on pain, and tomorrow would give him a fine feast.

* * *

Ichigo watched Feralina, wishing she would sit down.

Ever since Grimmjow had gone to his private audience with the Dark King, she had been pacing. There were no jokes, nothing but strained silence as the elven woman refused to stop moving. Ichigo wanted to yell at her, to tell her she was driving him insane, but he held it back. Because her face was tight with fear and something close to rage.

Ichigo looked down at the book in his hands, and tried again to read it. But his eyes wouldn't seem to focus on the page, and he knew it was because Feralina's behavior was unnerving him. She was acting like Grimmjow was going to be killed, despite his assurances that he would be fine. And that made Ichigo wonder if maybe Feralina was the one who –

The door clicked open, but it was the sound Feralina made that pulled his head up and sent ice down his spine. He'd never heard anyone make a sound like that before, and it made him think of a wounded animal. He looked at Grimmjow, seeing the crooked smile and the bruise on his cheek. It was already turning red and purple, and Ichigo could see the imprint of fingers on the pale flesh. Then his gaze dropped and his breath froze as he saw the black collar around Grimmjow's neck.

"No. No." Feralina said, her voice breaking as she gripped her brother's shirt. Ichigo vaguely noticed that the white silks were stained with droplets of blood. "No!" Grimmjow folded her into his arms, cuddling her close to his chest as his sister sobbed.

"Shh Fera. Shh. S'alright. You gotta be strong sis. You gotta be strong." He whispered softly and Ichigo felt like his world was crumbling around him. A black rag, worn around the neck, was the sign of a condemned man. "You and Ichigo have t' take care of each other. You do that and you'll be fine."

"Who cares about us? You daft bastard! You… you…" Feralina dissolved into sobs again and Ichigo felt tears building in his eyes. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't.

"Why?" He asked, stepping closer to them both. "What… what happened?" What had made the King go from inviting Grimmjow to a meal, to this? Grimmjow shifted Feralina so she was cradled in one of his arms, and offered Ichigo the other. Ichigo drew a shuddering breath before taking the invitation, settling against his lover and putting his arms around them both.

"He said I could either take him into my soul and between my legs, or I could die." Ichigo's heart clenched as he looked into Grimmjow's calm, green blue eyes. "An' I could let him fuck me, but I never could take him into my soul. I'm sorry, Ichigo. Sorry, Fera." Even now, Grimmjow was worrying about the two of them. It made him want to scream, but instead he just held the elf close.

_Give him comfort, but do not give up hope, Ichigo._ Ichigo blinked at that voice in his mind. He'd never heard his sword speak until now, but his soul knew that it was Zangetsu. _We will talk again later._ Ichigo bit his lip, wondering what Zangetsu thought they could do. The Dark King would have so many guards watching them right now…

"You stupid bastard." Feralina's voice was muffled as she buried her face against her brother's face. "Pappy'd be proud o' you." That made Grimmjow chuckle, weakly, and Fera lifted her head with a sniff. "What'm I gonna do though? He won't let me have th' manor." She sounded wounded and lost. Grimmjow's arm around her tightened for a moment.

"You gotta get married, Fera." He said gently and Ichigo winced as he felt Feralina stiffen beside him. "You just gotta. There ain't no time left an' if you let him pick, you might be married to Szayel. You gotta find someone who'll take care o' you and Ichigo."

"I can take care o' myself!" Feralina flared, then grimaced. "Least, I could if that bastard would let me." She added in a low voice and Grimmjow patted her back.

"And he won't, so you gotta find someone good t' marry. You're pretty an' half the court knows you ain't as bad as you act. Do it for me, Feralina." He said softly and Feralina started to cry again, this time soft, slow weeping. "Oh Fera, I'm so fucking sorry."

"S-Stop sayin' that. You… you go spend some time with Ichigo. You know you want to." She stepped back, rubbing her face with one hand before giving Grimmjow a gentle shove. "You both go. I'll… I'll be fine." They both knew she wouldn't be, but Grimmjow nodded anyway as he looked into Ichigo's face. Ichigo swallowed, then hugged him tightly as his heart clenched in his chest. Zangetsu had said not to give up hope, but it was hard to see what hope they had.

"It's gonna be at noon tomorrow." Grimmjow said quietly and Feralina made a small, sobbing sound. "So we can talk in the mornin' for a bit. You're right, I do want t' spend some time with Ichigo."

"Then you go. Don't worry about me." She said resolutely and Grimmjow hesitated a moment before nodding. Ichigo went with him, knowing what the elf lord wanted. Love, and comfort that he could not begin to ask Feralina for. He was too used to protecting his baby sister to burden her with his pain.

"Ichigo." Ichigo gasped as Grimmjow suddenly pressed him against the bedroom wall, lips catching him in an intense, almost bruising kiss. He was vaguely aware of Feralina shutting the door, but he didn't care. All his attention was on Grimmjow and the pain in his eyes. "I love you Ichigo." He whispered as they parted and Ichigo felt a tear fall onto his shoulder. He reached up to gently cup Grimmjow's cheek, feeling tears starting to well up in his own eyes.

_Don't lose hope._ Zangetsu quietly repeated and Ichigo drew a deep, shaking breath as he looked into his lover's face. He gently kissed the bruised flesh, infusing Grimmjow with healing power to soothe the pain away.

"I love you too, Grimmjow." He whispered back and saw the elf close his eyes in pain. "Make love to me, please." If Zangetsu's plans failed, he wanted Grimmjow to have this moment.

Grimmjow's touch was very tender as he slowly undid his shirt, spreading the fabric away so he could explore Ichigo's skin. The redhead decided to take a more active part this time, working on Grimmjow's shirt and gently tweaking his nipples, making the elf gasp in surprise. Clothing fell away, and Ichigo pushing Grimmjow back towards the bed. He hadn't given the elf this kind of pleasure yet, and wanted to try it. Grimmjow lay willing down on the bed, tilting his head as Ichigo began to nuzzle the inside of his thighs.

"What're you – oh!" Grimmjow's head fell back as the warm cavern of Ichigo's mouth enveloped his member. "D-Damn…" The elf moaned softly as Ichigo slowly sucked, running his tongue along the firm, hot flesh in his mouth. Grimmjow smelled and tasted good, primal and musky. "Didn't know… you knew how t' do that…"

"I've had a good teacher." Ichigo freed himself long enough to say, before returning to his self-appointed task. Grimmjow was making soft, wanton sounds that touched him to the core. But Ichigo ignored his own desire, concentrating on pleasing his lover. He kept a hand on Grimmjow's base, trying to hold back his release. Just like before, he did not want this to end too soon.

It didn't take long before Grimmjow was trying to thrust up into his mouth, desperate for more. Ichigo paused in his sucking, pulling away and waiting until Grimmjow had calmed slightly. Then he hesitated, swallowing.

"Grimmjow? Do you… do you want me inside you?" He asked quietly. He wanted to experience that, but not if it was not what Grimmjow wanted. And it would be his first time inside the elf's body. What if he wasn't very good at it? But the desire in Grimmjow's voice wiped the concerns from his mind.

"Oh fuck yes. Cream's on the bedstand." Ichigo blushed and nodded, quickly getting the cream before going back to his lover. Grimmjow had spread his legs and was waiting, a real smile on his face. "You do all the work, Ichi. I'll just sit back an' relax."

"Oh pfft. You'll do plenty." Ichigo retorted. He knew Grimmjow, and knew there was almost no chance he would just passively take his attentions. No, there would be love bits and nibbles and… Ichigo had to swallow at the thought, his lust almost overwhelming. Grimmjow chuckled then gasped as Ichigo began to explore him with the cream, running one hand over his erection as the other gently teased open his entrance.

"Damn!" Grimmjow arched into his touch, hands digging into the blankets and eyes half-closed. "That feels so damn good Ichi… mm…" His head fell back, exposing his pale throat as Ichigo explored him from the inside out "Y'know… I think…" Ichigo blinked as Grimmjow pulled away from him, turning around and sitting on his hands and knees. "I want it like this." Ichigo frowned to himself. That was a… less intimate position. But he gently kissed the elf's back, trailing kisses down the soft skin.

"You don't have to hide your feelings from me." He whispered and from the faint wince that went through his lover, Ichigo knew he had guessed right. Grimmjow didn't want him to see how much this was hurting him. "But if that's what you want." He wasn't going to distress Grimmjow by insisting on anything the elf didn't want. He went back to opening him, nuzzling the soft skin of his back as Grimmjow panted softly.

"Sh-Shit… Ichigo, please, take me…" Ichigo groaned at that plea, unable to resist any longer. He used the cream to coat himself, then carefully eased inside, molding himself to Grimmjow's perfect back. Ichigo rested his hands over Grimmjow's, where they were resting on the bed, twining their fingers together as he sank into that hot, tight heat.

"I love you." Ichigo whispered the words into Grimmjow's ear, before lowering his face to his neck, catching and nipping the soft skin. A small shudder went through the elf's body and Ichigo freed one of his hands to reach under him, finding his throbbing length. Grimmjow moaned as he stroked him in time with their movements. Ichigo speeded his pace, his mind going blank with pleasure as Grimmjow tightened around him, gasping out his name. "Grimmjow." He couldn't hold back his moan, and didn't try as he felt the elf's length twitch in his hand, releasing thick lines of creamy fluid onto the bed. "Grimmjow!"

"Ichigo!" That roar sent him over the edge and Ichigo plunged into the body under him with abandon, giving himself entirely to the pleasure. Then he was keening his own release and felt that amazing rush of power again, sliding between the two of them. Ichigo caught and held the blue power, feeling tears burning in his eyes. Would this be the last time he would feel it? _No. I will not let him die._ Ichigo took a deep breath, feeling the certainty of that in his soul. Zangetsu had told him not to lose hope, and he would not give up.

They lay together on the bed, spent and exhausted. Ichigo curled up behind Grimmjow, resting his hand over the elf's and just holding him close. There was nothing more to be said. Grimmjow would try to stop him if he knew what Ichigo intended, and they had said and done everything that was important. So he watched and waited until Grimmjow's breathing evened into sleep, before very carefully pulling away.

"You were going to tell me something?" He said quietly to Zangetsu, pulling on a robe and slipping out into the main room. Feralina was asleep on the couch, unwilling to go back to her own room when her brother had so little time left.

_Yes. Ichigo, I know the palace, intimately. _Ichigo blinked as memories suddenly bubbled up in his mind. They were very odd, since they came from Scar via Zangetsu. But it seemed that Scar had known every inch of the Zaratur. Including some knowledge of the dungeons that Ichigo could have done without. _He was a guest there for a time. Grimmjow would not know – his father calmed considerably after having children – but he was even wilder than Feralina in his youth. His mother often told him his children were the fate's revenge on him. But you see what can be done?_

"Yes." Ichigo murmured, sorting through the information. With this knowledge, he could easily steal a carriage and interrupt the execution. He knew where everything was and exactly what to do. Scar had already done it for him, once, and Zangetsu supplied those memories as well. "Was he insane?" Ichigo wondered as he realized Scar had once climbed the walls of the Zaratur. He felt Zangetsu's shrug.

_In the same way that you are. Awaken Feralina. She will need to know what to do._ Ichigo nodded before gently resting a hand on Feralina's shoulder, shaking her awake. He had no doubt the elven woman would agree to his plan.

She would do anything to keep her brother safe.


	8. Escape

Author's Note: It took me forever to write this… I have no idea how Ichigo would get them out so it's from Grimmjow's perspective. And no lemon, sorry, it's plenty long already.

It was a beautiful day.

The sun was shining and the land was ripening with the spring. Birds twittered in the trees and blossoms were shyly showing their faces to the sun. There was hardly a wisp of clouds in the sky.

"A good day t' die." Grimmjow whispered to himself as he gazed up at that blue sky. "Pappy, you'd be proud of me." It was so hard. So very hard. He' d known it was coming for years, even suspected that the Dark King wanted him in bed, but it was still hard. He was so desperately unwilling to die. "Never thought I'd have so much t'live for." His mind went back to his night with Ichigo. That had been a time to remember. It was sad that he wouldn't be remembering it for long.

There was a soft cough behind him and Grimmjow blinked, recalled to the present. He flashed the human guard a grim smile before beginning to walk. The guards had been treating him respectfully, and he knew why. At least one of them came from his lands, and the humans knew who was a good lord and who wasn't. The Dark King wouldn't approve if he knew, but Grimmjow wouldn't be in their hands for long.

There was a silent crowd waiting at the execution grounds and Grimmjow's heart ached as he glanced over them. Not a single face was happy, not even Szayel. He spotted the pink haired elf right off, and he looked as upset as anyone. But then, they were all elves. There was some solidarity in that. He didn't look for his mother. He knew she was there, and Feralina too, but he couldn't look for them. This hurt badly enough already.

"Good luck Fera." He whispered as the guards escorted him to the execution stand. It was actually a wooden frame with a leather harness, stained with old blood. Grimmjow swallowed at the sight of it. He'd wondered how the Dark King would have him die, and this was not a painless way to go.

This was the basket of knives. Grimmjow walked up to the frame and let the guards strap him in as he stared blankly at the executioner. The man was stirring the basket, making sure that the heart knife wasn't on top. Each knife was engraved with a body part, and when it was pulled that was where it would be tossed. It required an accurate hand, and back in the old days, when his father had lived here, the executioner could be bribed to make sure the heart knife was picked early on. Not anymore. The Dark King fed on suffering and torment and a headsman who let the victim die too quickly might find himself strapped to the rack.

Pushing that thought away, Grimmjow straightened his shoulders and stared forward. He couldn't move much, which was the point of the harness, but he'd put up a good front. It wouldn't last long, but he'd hold it until he couldn't anymore. Then he frowned. There was something...

_What the fuck?_ Grimmjow's eyes went wide as he heard the beat of horses' hooves and someone suddenly launched themselves out of the crowd. "Feralina, no!" He could recognize that flowing blue hair. And the power that was filling the air, that was familiar too. "Ichigo!" Something suddenly went off in the stands - a bomb? - and clouds of stink and dust filled the air. Grimmjow could smell it even from where he was, and the elves caught in it were retching and screaming. The power of the Dark King filled the air, but Ichigo's power clashed with it fearlessly. Then Feralina was there, her sword clashing with the guards. They couldn't let her do it, not if they wanted to live, and she knew it. The fight was fast and brutal and ended with two dead guards. Then she began slashing his bonds and Ichigo slid down from a horse, holding off the other guards and the Dark King's power.

"We're gettin' you outta here y' pig fucker!" Feralina shouted and grabbed her stunned and horrified brother. "C'mon!" She shoved him at the horses and Grimmjow grabbed a saddle, dragging himself up. Ichigo's cover was blown. Even if he wanted to surrender himself so his lunatic sister could live, it wouldn't do the human boy a damned bit of good. Run was the only option.

All three of them spurred their horses to a gallop and Grimmjow hissed as he felt power building behind them. The Dark King unleashed a bolt of sickly, black and purple power. He unleashed his own power to shield them, but it only slowed the blow. That bit of delay gave Ichigo the time he needed to erect a shield of gold, and the bolt was stopped on that. Then they were gone. No one else was in a position to follow them quickly, although Grimmjow knew with sick certainty that that would change shortly.

"We've got a good lead!" Ichigo called and Grimmjow turned to look at him, wondering if he was insane. "I stole all the left shoes off the horses!"

"You did WHAT?!" Grimmjow yelled, wondering if he'd misheard. Feralina laughed her hyena laugh, then had to control her horse. The beast didn't like the sound any more than the rest of them.

"We got this brother! Yer gonna be fine!" Feralina caroled and Grimmjow shook his head before bending over the horses' neck. He didn't have time to give these two the hiding they deserved. Right now, they had to get away.

But he'd be having words with them later.

* * *

"Now. What in hell were you two idiots thinkin'?" Grimmjow said harshly as Feralina picked at a roasted squirrel and Ichigo ate a bit of trail bread. One thing they were badly short on was rations, although Ichigo had stolen what he could before they left. The teen blinked at the elf before swallowing his bread.

"We couldn't just leave you there to die, Grimm." He said simply and winced as Grimmjow looked ready to explode.

"You damned well should have! You dumb kids! You know what he's gonna do if he catches up to us now? For fuck's sake Fera, Ichigo's too young to remember but you damned well know what happened to Maladecta!" Feralina went a little pale at that but mustered a very good scowl.

"Shut the hell up, you daft bastard!" She roared right back, getting in his face. "You know what? We love your sorry ass! So shut the fuck up! We'll live or die together, so just shut the fuck up!" Then she hugged him, so hard Grimmjow let out his breath in surprise. Ichigo smiled and joined her, hugging Grimmjow tightly.

"You tryin' t' suffocate me an' do th' Dark King's work for 'im?" Grimmjow gasped out and Feralina let go with a laugh. Ichigo smiled and kissed his lover on the cheek before letting go as well. "I just... you two..." Grimmjow took a deep breath and centered himself. "What's done is done. There's nothin' t' do but go forward. And that means we gotta go inta rebellion. And we gotta win." He said plainly and Ichigo swallowed. He really hadn't thought this far ahead, but he knew Grimmjow was right. The only way they would be safe was if the Dark King was dead. "We ain't the first t' try an' we'll probably fail. But it's th' only hope we've got."

"Nice pep talk Grimmy. That how you rallied the rangers, too?" Feralina asked and Grimmjow growled at her. "So where're we goin'? Didn't you say you knew some bandits out in the hills?"

"For fuck's sake Fera! That was three hundred years ago! Humans move around! Shit, elves move around!" The elf lord complained and Ichigo couldn't help but smile. A near brush with death didn't really change much.

"But the things that attract bandits, like a steady water supply and good hunting, might not change." Ichigo pointed out and felt Zangetsu's approval. "I have a map, but Zangetsu's information is even more outdated. Maybe we should try it." If Grimmjow's location didn't pan out, Zangetsu did have some ideas. But over a thousand years even the waterways could change. Grimmjow took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.

"Alright. Give me that map." He said and Ichigo got up, fishing it out of his saddlebags. He handed the paper to Grimmjow who began looking it over. "Up here." He pointed out a location. "Where those rivers meet. Would be a good place for a town, but no one's ever started one. Well, the horses have had a rest. Ready t' go?"

"Yep! Let's get going Grimmy." Feralina said cheerfully as Grimmjow growled and put the map away. Soon they were all mounted and moving again, as Grimmjow took steps to muddy their trail. That was one thing they had going for them... Grimmjow was the last of the elven rangers. He would be better at this game than anyone the Dark King could send after them.

That might keep them alive long enough to get away.

* * *

"Hmm, we almost there Grimmy?" Feralina asked, taking off her boots and rubbing her feet. The ranger huffed a breath.

"We'll get there when we get there, bitch!" He said and she tossed a stick at him. He caught it and tossed it into the woods. "Damned scraggly woods." Grimmjow muttered, glancing at the trees. Ichigo felt almost at home in the scraggly brush. "Nothin' like th' enchanted forest."

"Should we go to the Enchanted Forest, Grimmjow? I mean, as an ultimate goal?" Ichigo asked and the two elves exchanged a glance before shaking their heads.

"No. It's been done t' death, th' Dark King'd be expecting it. That's how they caught Maladecta, in the end." Feralina said seriously and Ichigo wondered who Maladecta was and what the story was behind that. It sounded interesting but probably very ugly. "She was our cousin so we know all about it."

"Another wild one like Feralina. Her mammy was already dead and her pappy died in a flood, so th' Dark King tried t' marry her off. She wasn't having any and she bolted. I hear she joined some bandits for a while but he was searching too hard for her so she left 'em t' keep 'em safe. She tried t' bolt for the forest but didn't make it. No one's really sure what happened to her after that. It wasn't no public execution, not like mine." Grimmjow said and Ichigo winced. "Some say she's alive somewhere, popping out babies for the Dark King's minions, her mind nothin' but mush. I wouldn't be surprised."

"Ugh." Ichigo muttered. "Grimmjow, what was it like for female elves before the Dark King came?" They desperately needed a break - they'd had to release the horses when they went into the deep woods - so they might as well talk. And he knew the elven women were suffering under the Dark King in different ways from their menfolk. Grimmjow and Feralina exchanged a glance.

"Well, elven men and women never did all the same things." Grimmjow said slowly as Feralina grimaced. "No woman ever became a ranger. Not because it was dangerous, but because it was too likely they'd miss their fertile times. And usually if a woman had th' wanderlust, she'd take a man with her, t' make sure those times weren't completely lost."

"It's too hard for a woman t' become pregnant." Feralina took over as Ichigo looked at her. "Women could be clan guards, and they often did, learnin' the sword an' the fightin'. But they'd usually stay close t' home. Even in our clan, not as many women wandered as th' men."

"Now under the Dark King it's 'bout the same, except women can't do anythin' dangerous." Grimmjow took back the conversational ball. "And since we're spread all over this damned Kingdom, rather than in clan houses, he makes th' women marry in th' human way. Sometimes, they manage t' get t' court for a fertile time an' take men in the old way, but mostly they can't. So the Dark King gives 'em potions t' help 'em get pregnant. But too many years o' that can wear 'em down."

"Almost makes me glad mamma's pregnant." Feralina said with a sigh. Ichigo nodded, but frowned. A few questions were still unanswered.

"Could women ever be clan heads, or whatever you used, before the Dark King came?" He asked and Grimmjow and Feralina both shook their heads.

"No. A clan head had t' be able t' meet a challenge at a moment's notice, so women were barred from th' position. But they could be on th' council of elders, for th' clans that were big enough t' have one. An' they could always have a lot of influence on th' clan head." Grimmjow said, then grinned. "You're wondering if our women were under the men, like most human women are, right?" Ichigo blushed but nodded. In the Kingdom, women couldn't own property unless they were widows and there were plenty of restrictions on them. "Not really. Most rules, the women could break if they didn't mind gettin' the fish eye from the elders. Only thing they couldn't do was become rangers."

"When I was a little girl, I dreamed of bein' a house guard an' jeweler an' havin' ten children." Feralina said with a sigh and Ichigo choked a little. Ten?

"Good luck on that last bit." Grimmjow said derisively and Feralina scowled before punching him in the shoulder.

"Stop mockin' my dreams! Are we ready to go?" She asked, pulling her boots back on. Grimmjow glanced up, although it was hard to see the sun with the trees in the way.

"Yeah, let's get goin'. We should make it a bit further before we have to call it for th' night." He said and Ichigo winced a little to himself. The elves could have kept going, they saw like cats in the dark, but he couldn't.

_They need to sleep anyway._ Zangetsu pointed out and Ichigo nodded. The sword spirit had a point.

It took them two more days to reach the fork at the river. But before they did, they ran into something interesting.

"Hmm." Grimmjow hummed softly to himself as he parted the trees. Feralina and Ichigo both stayed back. Feralina had a bit of the training, courtesy of Grimmjow, and Ichigo knew a bit from his poaching days, but neither of them were close to the ranger's skill. "They ain't the Dark King's men." He said under his breath and Ichigo nodded.

They were spying on a pair of poachers. Possibly bandits as well, one of them was completely bald while the other was very well groomed and wore odd little feathers by one of his eyes. They were both wearing old, tatty clothing that looked comfortably warm in the early spring chill. It was pretty similar to what they were wearing, in fact. Ichigo had packed the warmest things he could find.

The two men were checking some snares, and there was a small sound of triumph as they realized they'd caught a hare. Grimmjow gestured for them both to stay before silently slipping out of the woods. Ichigo tensed, wishing he'd thought to suggest that he go first. He was human, and the hunters might react with alarm to an elf.

"Well, well. What d' I have here? Some poachers?" Grimmjow's voice floated back to them and Ichigo winced. Then he stiffened as both men's hands flashed to their swords. "Ah ah, I wouldn't if I was you."

"Who the fuck are you?" The bald one snarled out, clearly trying to locate the elf. Grimmjow stepped out of the woods, his hands up in a pacific manner. Of course, he could have his sword out faster than most humans could dream of. "An elf?!" His sword rasped out but Grimmjow just looked at him calmly.

"And in such horribly disreputable clothing." The second man said, smoothly drawing his sword. "I wouldn't have thought an elf would be caught dead in such unfashionable garb." He said and Grimmjow barked a laugh.

"Funny you should say that. I wore this so's I wouldn't get my own blood on something good." He said and the two humans exchanged a glance, clearly confused. "I'm Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. I don't know how fast word travels, but if the Dark King catches me I'm a dead man. Now, you wouldn't happen to be bandits, would ya? Because I have a deep fondness in m'heart for bandits at th' moment."

"Really? It wouldn't be the first time, but do you have any proof of this?" The man with the feathers drawled. Grimmjow shrugged, spreading his hands. "And how did you escape?" He clearly wasn't buying Grimmjow's story.

"I had help." Grimmjow said shortly before motioning behind him. Ichigo swallowed before quietly easing himself out of the brush, Feralina following close behind. "Meet m'friend, Ichigo and m'sister, Feralina. Be careful, she bites." He said and Feralina sneered at him before giving the two men a challenging look. They looked them both over and the bald one frowned.

"How'd you get on the Dark King's bad side?" He asked and Grimmjow briefly detailed the situation. One part of it caught their attention. "Wait, he wanted you in bed? You're handsome and all, but why didn't he pick her?" That made Feralina toss back her head and laugh. It was especially piercing and both men winced in pain. "...Nevermind."

"My hangover just came back!" The dapper man moaned, putting his face in his hands. "Never do that again, ever!"

"Good luck, I've been tryin' t' stop her since she was a baby." Grimmjow said sourly and Ichigo had to hide a grin. "Even the Dark King has better sense than t' touch her - ow! Fera!" The elf lord scowled and rubbed his head where he'd just been slapped. "Bitch."

"How did you know we were here?" The bald man thought to ask. "I'm Ikkaku, by the way, and this is Yumichika." The man with the feathers waved a hand before rubbing his forehead again. Ichigo could sympathize; Feralina's hyena in heat laugh could be painful even when he was feeling fine.

"I didn't. But there were bandits in these woods three hundred years ago, and these two didn't have a spec of a plan. So here we are." Grimmjow said and the two humans exchanged a glance.

"That's so dumb it's probably true." Ikkaku said and Yumichika sighed, putting his sword away. "We'll have to take you to the boss though. And just a warning, if you're trying to set us up. No one manages to lie to the boss." He said proudly and Ichigo wondered what the boss would turn out to be. An elf? Or another human? Probably a human, but from their earlier comments he couldn't be sure.

"Good we're not lying then, ain't it? Take us t'see your boss." Feralina said and Ikkaku took the lead while Yumichika followed behind them. There clearly wasn't a lot of trust, which didn't surprise Ichigo in the least. He was actually slightly surprised they were being given a chance at all.

It took a while to reach the bandit camp. It was well concealed and to Ichigo's surprise, quite extensive. In fact, it was almost a little village, although one that was meant to blend into the forest rather than announce itself to passersby. Entire families lived in wattle huts, heavily concealed with branches and hidden in the trees. Children came out to point and stare before being swept up by concerned parents. Ichigo felt almost at home.

"Hey boss!" Ikkaku called, waving his hand at someone sitting on a tree stump. Ichigo swallowed as he saw the man's sword. It was long and jagged on the edge, but that wasn't the impressive part. The really interesting thing was the stone in the hilt. It was a piece of red agate, nothing precious, but Ichigo could sense the power coiling in it.

"Hey! Where'd you get that sword?" Feralina said, surprised, and Ichigo and Grimmjow both winced a bit as the man rose to his feet. He was a giant of a man with spiky black hair, capped in bells. A patch over his eye finished the nicely homicidal image. "I know that sword! Our uncle made it!"

"Wait, what? Really?" Grimmjow suddenly looked at the sword. "It does look like his work, I think he meant it for somebody on a horse though." He said, glancing up at the man in front of him. "You've got th' height for it." He added absently. "How'd it end up here?" He sounded honestly puzzled and the man across from him flashed him a grin.

"A girl brought it, a while back. She said her dad made it. Heh... that would make you Grimmjow and Feralina, wouldn't it?" The two elves both looked shocked and Grimmjow hesitated before nodding. "I'm Zaraki Kenpachi. Nice to meet you, Mala had plenty to say about you."

"If it's good it was true, if it's bad it was lies." Grimmjow said, sounding almost at ease now. "We're lookin' for a place t' hide for a bit, 'till we can move on th' Dark King." He said and Zaraki lifted his eyebrows.

"Move on him? You actually got a plan, or you just desperate?" He said and Grimmjow looked away. "Figures. How'd you get on his bad side?" Grimmjow took a deep breath and went over it again as Kenpachi listened patiently. "Wait, he wanted you in bed, not her?"

"It's her laugh sir. Her horrible, horrible laugh." Yumichika moaned as Feralina giggled madly. "You must have heard it, just a while ago?" Zaraki looked puzzled for a moment then blinked.

"Wait, that was her? I thought it was a badger." That made Feralina laugh again and everyone winced. "Holy shit! Don't do that again." He said threateningly and Feralina put a hand over her mouth, trying to look contrite. It didn't work very well. "Fucking hell. I can tell you're related to Maladecta. Fine, you can both stay. But unless you can come up with a plan me and my boys will be staying right here."

"Fair enough." Grimmjow agreed immediately and Ichigo nodded. They couldn't lead these men into a massacre. Although what kind of plan could they come up with? Ichigo bit his lip as he thought.

_I will help you._ Zangetsu said and Ichigo relaxed slightly at the quiet assurance in the sword spirit's tone. He believed in Zangetsu. With his help, they would think of something.

For the next two days, the elves and human rested and recharged. They were cautiously welcomed into the camp, a welcome that got warmer as Grimmjow caught a very large buck deer for them. Feralina also made herself useful. There was a very basic forge in the camp, and she used it to fix some cookware and other minor things. The man who'd been using it had been a tinker, not a real smith, and he was happy enough to give up the forge to her.

And the nights were full of warmth. Ichigo and Grimmjow shared a tent, while Feralina had one of her own. Grimmjow put up full privacy shields, so it was hard to say if the bandits even realized they were lovers. Ichigo was willing to bet they did, but no one had mentioned it so he couldn't be sure.

"Ichi." Grimmjow whispered in his ear, making the teenager shiver in desire. A warm, strong hand was stroking the inside of his thigh, teasingly avoiding his more sensitive parts. "I got somethin' I want t' ask you."

"Mmm, what?" Ichigo murmured, distracted by that touch. Grimmjow made it worse by gently kissing his throat, nuzzling the soft skin.

"I been thinkin'. I'll be lucky if I live a year, at this rate, so I want t' bind my power t' yours." He said seriously and Ichigo blinked, brown eyes meeting blue. "It's a permanent thing an' it'll mean that m'life will be shorter an' yours'll be longer. We'll live th' same length o' time an' we'll die t'gether. I'll share the blessin' of the forest with you, so we'll prob'ly both live another thousand years." Ichigo drew a breath at the thought. A thousand years? But then he bit his lip. Grimmjow should have more time than that.

"Are you sure?" He asked and the elf huffed a laugh before kissing him soundly. Ichigo melted into the kiss, exploring Grimmjow's mouth as the elf lord explored him right back.

"Yeah, I'm sure. We're all livin' on borrowed time, now. It's time t' live for th' present." He said and Ichigo felt Zangetsu's approval. "The question is, are you okay with it? I might die before you an' if I do, I'll take you down with me." Grimmjow sounded deeply concerned but Ichigo didn't have to think twice.

"I wouldn't want to live without you anyway." He said quietly, brown eyes meeting blue. "If you don't mind losing your time in this world." That bothered him a bit, but only a bit because Grimmjow was right. The odds that they would fail were high. The elf gave him a small, understanding smile.

"Then let's do this." He murmured before pulling Ichigo against his chest. The younger man rested there, comfortable in Grimmjow's embrace. "Open yer mind t'me." Ichigo closed his eyes and obeyed. A moment later he felt Grimmjow's presence and accepted it as easily as breathing.

He would never have words for what happened next. It was a little like being cuddled in a blanket, a little like taking a long drink of cool, refreshing water, and a little like experiencing love for the first time. But it was none of those things, it was a sensation all of its own. Ichigo would never remember it clearly, but he would always know it was among the best things he'd ever felt. And there would always be a faint echo of it, whenever he drew on Grimmjow's power and felt the bond between them.

Then it was over and Ichigo took a deep breath, still snug against Grimmjow's chest. Then he blinked as he realized his body had reacted strongly to that feeling. And not just his. Grimmjow's erection was poking him quite firmly in the hip and Ichigo smiled before reaching down to touch it. The body against his stiffened with a soft groan, and he looked up to meet wanting blue eyes.

"That felt so good, Grimm. But I think we should do something about this, don't you?" He said, sliding his hand up and down that hard length teasingly. Then his mouth was claimed hungrily as Grimmjow wordlessly voiced his agreement.

This was going to be an excellent night.


End file.
